An unusual sight at the Ravens’ Nest summed up the Carleton Ravens women’s basketball team’s 68-53 win against the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks on Jan. 31.
Head coach Dani Sinclair, known for her animated sideline presence, quietly sat by the Ravens bench beside assistant coach Dean Petridis. In most cases, Petridis has to rein Sinclair in, but her silence spoke volumes.
“I try to get them to kind of problem solve on their own,” Sinclair said. “I mean, also, what more can you say when we’re sometimes not listening to instruction?”
Veteran guard Kyana-Jade Poulin took Sinclair’s words to heart.
“I feel like we’re disrespecting her for not listening,” Poulin said. “We should listen and we should want her to scream, if that makes sense … we want her to be engaged.”
Sinclair’s words were apt for a team that looked disorganized and even disengaged at times against Ontario Tech. The Ridgebacks entered the contest with just a single win this season, while the Ravens held a perfect 17-0 record.
Yet Carleton was outscored in both the second and third quarters after taking a commanding 24-6 lead in the first. Veteran forward Jacqueline Urban said the team’s flawless record can lend a false sense of comfort in the unforgiving OUA.
“We rely on the fact that we know we’re capable, and we’re talented,” Urban said. “If we do rely on the fact that we’ve been winning our games when we play tougher teams, [with] harder and closer games, the outcome’s probably not gonna be the same.”
Urban and Poulin paced the Ravens offensively with 13 and 18 points, respectively, but Carleton’s defence lacked polish. Coverage was sporadic and players frequently misread plays, leading to wide-open chances for the Ridgebacks.
Carleton had won its last four games by more than 20-point margins against stronger teams. But on this occasion, the visitors were nipping at the Ravens’ heels most of the night.
Sinclair admitted her team has been “a little bit up and down” lately, despite beating every team in their path.
“No matter what the score is, no matter who the team is, we have to respect them and respect ourselves,” Urban said.
In its last 10 games, Carleton has only faced four opponents with a winning record. Two of the Ravens’ last three games of the season will be against top competition: the uOttawa Gee-Gees and the Queen’s Gaels.
First up is the Gee-Gees in the annual Capital Hoops Classic, which Carleton has taken each of the past two seasons. The crosstown rival handed the Ravens their only loss of the 2023-2024 regular season.
As for their Kingston rival, the Gaels and Ravens met on Feb. 1 for the first time since Carleton ended both their OUA and U Sports championship runs last year.
“If we let Queen’s come in and outwork us, we’ll lose by 20 points,” Sinclair said prior to the game. The Ravens prevailed with a 72-63 win ahead of their rematch on Valentine’s Day.
The Ravens have had the Gaels’ number as of late, but the seasoned bench boss is wary of making any connections to past seasons.
“That is actually a pretty dangerous way to think, is to think, OK, this is the way things were last year,” Sinclair said. “It’s a dangerous road to go down because it’s always a different group.”
Although this year’s Ravens squad experienced significant turnover from last season, capable leaders like Urban, Poulin and Dorcas Buisa are plentiful.
“At the end of the day, I think we have good enough leadership on the floor that they should be able to problem solve some of that themselves,” Sinclair said.
Featured photo by Charles Fortin.
