After a five-week hiatus due to the winter break, the Carleton Ravens women’s basketball team took to the court Jan. 4 and 5, splitting two tough divisional matches.
Going into the weekend games, the Ravens were leading the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East division and were ranked fifth nationally by the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS).
On Jan. 4, the Ravens travelled to Sudbury to take on the Laurentian Voyageurs. At the end of the first quarter, Carleton was ahead 21-11 and continued this 10-point lead into the fourth quarter.
However, in the final quarter, the Voyageurs battled back, scoring 27 points to the Ravens’ 13 and ultimately upset Carleton by a final score of 61-57.
“We got a little loose and careless with the basketball,” head coach Taffe Charles said. “We gave them life and confidence and they secured it, and they also had a really good player who was on fire and could not be stopped.”
That forward was fifth-year Voyageurs guard Sasha Polishchuk, who scored 34 points in the match—more than half of her team’s total on the night—and grabbed nine defensive rebounds.
Charles also said that there were questionable calls in the first quarter against the Ravens, and calls that got them into foul trouble and hurt them in the latter stages of the game.
“The bench players didn’t step up in the game when they needed to and they didn’t execute,” Charles said.
Ravens forward Lindsay Shotbolt led the team in scoring with 13 points.
The following day, the Ravens had the opportunity to bounce back against the York Lions who were last place in the OUA East division. Carleton again got out to a commanding lead in the first quarter, and this time they were able to hold on to their lead throughout the entire game, and demolished the Lions 87-49. Alyson Bush led the Ravens in scoring with 17 points.
The loss and the win took the Ravens out of sole possession of first place and into a tie for first in the OUA East division, with the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, both with 14 points. The Ravens have three games before the Capital Hoops Classic against the University of Ottawa at Scotiabank Place on Jan. 23, but it is already looking to be a very important and exciting game between the two rivals.
“We are not planning for the game against the University of Ottawa right now. It is a long time off, so I haven’t thought about it. Next week we are in Toronto, so we are preparing for and thinking about those games,” Charles said.
Regarding what the team needs to work on to get better in the future, Charles said the Ravens “need to play the game of basketball.”
“When we execute we are a good team so we have to do that continuously. Also, right now we are allowing the opposition too much time to shoot in the paint, so we have to work on that in order to succeed.”
The Ravens are back in action on Jan. 11, when they travel to play the third place University of Toronto Varsity Blues and the Ryerson Rams the next day.
