When the Carleton Ravens women’s basketball team last played at nationals, fourth-year guard Jaclyn Ronson couldn’t. This time, against the Alberta Pandas in the consolation semi-finals, they couldn’t have won without her, according to head coach Brian Cheng.
The Ajax native didn’t register any points on the score sheet during the Ravens’ 72-70 win, but made her impact in other ways as they downed their opponents to reach the 2020 U Sports Final 8 consolation final.
She had six rebounds (including four offensive rebounds) and two steals in 25 minutes. She also took three or four charges.
“If you look at my stat line, I’m not scoring a million points but I think my focus today was getting some [offensive rebounds] to give us second chances,” said Ronson. “Then I tried to lock in on defence and trust our help [defence],” she added.
Carleton needed Ronson’s effort as they were trailing for most of the game. Every time the Ravens cut into the Pandas’ lead, Alberta had an answer.
“Even some dead balls [situations], a lot of us came together and was like ‘we just have to get this done,’” Ronson said. “There’s never a point in the game where we were out of the game … so we just used that energy and focused on getting the next stop.”
In the first quarter, Alberta came out strong and led 22-15. By halftime, Carleton was still down by six points.
In the second half of the game, the Ravens got those stops, with a string of Alberta possessions ending in offensive fouls or turnovers. Ronson, Kali Pocrnic and Tatyanna Burke put their bodies on the line and took charges.
Then, late in the fourth, Pocrnic hit a three-pointer to give the Ravens the lead while guard Madison Reid–who had a game-high 33 points–hit some key jump shots down the stretch to help win the game. Despite the individual success, including being named Carleton’s player of the game, Reid called it a team effort.
“We really wanted to lock down on defence to stop their best players,” she said.
“Rebounding is a big thing in the first quarter. They got a lot of [offensive rebounds] that impacted us a lot.”
“Jac’s a backstreet fighter man,” Cheng said. “She’s an ally cat and she’s a wily vet. She needed to do what she needed to do for the team and it was critical. She just kept making plays and it weren’t the glory plays.”
Cheng said the running joke between them is that Ronson’s always doing the “Steve Nash” glory plays. However, “she did the down and dirty [plays] today and we’re not succeeding without her,” he added.
Her moment has been a long time coming. Ronson won a national title in 2018 with the Ravens, but didn’t get to play at nationals due to the U Sports Final 8 regulations that only allow a team to dress 12 players.
“When I was the 13th player, I definitely [still] felt part of the team and we obviously won it back then,” she said. “I think playing this year, it’s a long awaited trip but it’s totally worth it.”
Now, she and her teammates will have a chance to win the consolation finals in front of friends and family again when the Ravens take on the Calgary Dinos on Mar. 7 at 3 p.m.
“Even playing at home again, I just think we also had that little bit of home court advantage,” Ronson said. “Just loving the fans all here. Again, playing in Ottawa is awesome. All our family is going to be here supporting us.”
Feature image by Spencer Colby
