The Carleton Ravens women’s basketball team went 2-1 to capture a third place finish at the Reebok Invitational Tournament at Concordia University Dec 29-31.
The Ravens were one of the favourites to win heading into the tournament, being ranked fourth in the nation, according to the Dec. 6 Canadian Interuniversity Sport rankings.
The Ravens opened with a 64-46 victory over the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack from Kamloops, B.C.
Ravens’ coach Taffe Charles said he was happy with the victory and getting rid of the dreaded post-holiday turkey legs.
“It was the first game after the girls had been on holidays and we hadn’t practiced too much beforehand,” Charles said.
“Everyone was in the same boat, but it wasn’t the prettiest basketball I’ve seen,” Charles said. “We did just enough to win that game.”
Ravens’ forward Kendall MacLeod said she was pleased with the team’s performance in the first game back from the break.
“We played a good game defensively,” MacLeod said. “We were rebounding well and we shut down their best players.”
WolfPack foward Diane Schuetze had game-high 20 points in the loss, while Jessica Resch led the Ravens in scoring with 17 points. Fourth-year guard Alyson Bush also had 16 points.
According to MacLeod, the Ravens did not put forth their best effort in their second game and that resulted in a 67-58 loss to the tournament hosts, the Concordia Stingers.
“We came out not focused and not ready to play,” MacLeod said about the loss. “Our shots weren’t falling.”
“[Concordia] wanted to win a bit more, we did not show enough intensity,” Charles said. “When you’re ranked this high, you’re not going to be taken for granted.”
The Ravens were down 47-32 after three quarters and ran a 19-point comeback before they faltered, allowing Concordia to regain the lead.
“When you stage a comeback like that, you run out of gas,” Charles said.
With the loss, the Ravens ended up in a battle for third place against the Memorial University of Newfoundland Sea-Hawks.
The Ravens led the whole game, leading by 14 at the half, never letting the Sea-Hawks lead at any point during the game. Carleton finished with a convincing 81-51 victory to finish the game.
“Against Memorial we got our focus back, we were rebounding, we took out their main player and we hit everything from beyond the arc,” MacLeod said.
The Ravens will look to build on their play at the tournament going into the second half of the season. They currently sit second in the Ontario University Athletics East Division standings behind cross-town rivals, the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.
When asked about improvements made by the team throughout the first half, MacLeod was quick to point out the defensive aspects of the game.
“We had to patch it up, our defence was lacking,” she said. “Our game revolves around defence.”
MacLeod said the team also has room to improve their shooting percentage.
“We have to play better in general,” Charles said. “We are still trying to find our identity. In the past we have been a defensive, rebounding team. We need to play better [defence].”
The Ravens continue the regular season on the road Jan. 6-7, visiting York University and Laurentian University.
