In a tale of two halves, it didn’t appear that the Carleton Ravens women’s basketball team was prepared to defend their 2023 Capital Hoops Classic win over the uOttawa Gee-Gees.
Nevertheless, an inspired comeback led the Ravens to extend their season win streak to four with a 78-72 score on Feb. 2 at TD Place.
Ravens head coach Dani Sinclair said her team understood the challenge that the highly-ranked uOttawa team posed. She said it was among the reasons Carleton was able to get back into their groove after a rocky start.
“I told the team that we might lose this game,” Sinclair said. “The regular season is the time to lose and adjust because when the OUA playoffs come around and the national championship, there is no room for error.”
“A single loss means the end of your season and our goal has always been to win it all.”
The Ravens now sport an impressive 17-1 record. By beating the Gee-Gees, Carleton avenged their only loss this season.
Despite a roaring start by uOttawa, Carleton got back into motion on the backs of guards Kali Pocrnic and Tatyanna Burke as well as forward Jacqueline Urban. The trio spearheaded a comeback in which Carleton overcame a 15-point deficit to defeat their cross-city rivals.
The Ravens struggled on offence in the first quarter despite getting easy shots and open layups. However, they kept up their defence, only trailing by two at the end of the first quarter by a score of 23-21.
The second quarter got even messier for the Ravens as uOttawa’s lead widened with open threes. The Gee-Gees capitalized on Carleton’s inability to convert easy chances into points.
The Ravens ended the second quarter shooting 34 per cent from the field and 27 per cent from beyond the arc. Poor shooting and turnovers plagued the Ravens the entire first half.
In the first half, the Ravens had double-digit turnovers, which uOttawa capitalized on by scoring 20 points off turnovers alone. This led to Carleton trailing 49-34 at the half.
With nothing in the first half going their way and hopes of a comeback dwindling, a motivated Ravens team came out for the second half and played the fundamentally sound basketball fans have come to expect from them.
The Ravens outscored the Gee-Gees by 10 points in the third and eight points in the fourth, with four of their players contributing with double-digit points.
Pocrnic led the offensive front with 19 points and nine assists. Burke accomplished a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds and Urban chipped in 12 points, 13 rebounds and three steals.
Pocrnic credited her team and coaches for pushing her.
“My teammates are easy to lead,” Pocrnic said. “They’re great followers but at the same time, I have great leaders to look up to and learn from like Urban, Dorcas Buisa, and Kyana-Jade Poulin.”
“There are so many people to rely on, so it makes my job a lot easier and comfortable. We were able to just look at each other and reaffirm to one another it’s just a basketball game and whatever happens, happens.”
“This time of the year, so late into the season there is no reason to go in and get angry and rush things because that’s when you make mistakes and lose games,” Sinclair said.
“Obviously, we were making those mistakes early on so at the half we really settled down, cooled our minds and came out playing the sort of basketball that we’re used to playing.”
Carleton returns to the Ravens’ Nest Feb. 9 to take on the Toronto Varsity Blues at 6 p.m.
Featured image by Anya Swettenham/The Charlatan.
