Men’s basketball
The Carleton men’s basketball team started the season off undefeated yet again, after Rob Smart took over coaching duties for the year while Dave Smart took a sabbatical.
After the departure of the Scrubb brothers, the Ravens have managed to go into Christmas break undefeated. Led by point guard Kaza Kajami-Keane, the team has won seven straight regular season games and currently sits at second in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) rankings, behind the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.
“My favourite part so far is just learning the game. There’s no choice but to get better and I truly enjoy that,” Kajami-Keane said.
He said one of the most enjoyable things for him is getting to know all his teammates, and “building relationships that will last forever.”
Sharpshooters Gavin Resch and Connor Wood have also had big games in the first half of the season, with games of seven threes and 27 points, respectively.
The Ravens sport the number one offence (89.7 ppg) and defence (55.1 opp ppg) in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA), and also lead the league in boards, outrebounding opposing teams by 21 a game.
Women’s basketball
The women’s basketball team has also had a strong season so far, with a record of 5-2, good for second in the OUA North division. Coached by Taffe Charles, the team’s highlight of the season so far is their 80-63 victory against Windsor, the five-time CIS defending champions, in their last game before the break.
The team has been led by third-year centre Heather Lindsay, who is averaging 17.4 points and 9.9 rebounds through the first half of the season. Sophomores Nicole Gilmore and Elizabeth LeBlanc are also big assets to the team’s success.
“I would say the highlight of our season was our final games before the break, we played against two very tough teams and were able to come away with back-to-back wins,” Lindsay said in an email.
The women’s basketball team faces the Gee-Gees on Jan. 16 with the men’s team playing afterwards allowing the winner to take home the number one spot in the CIS rankings.
