The Carleton Ravens women’s basketball team kept busy over the Christmas break playing in the Thunder Selects CIS Holiday Classic. This year marks the first time Carleton was selected to play in the fourth-annual exhibition series.
The classic, which took place Dec. 28-30, was held at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax and featured eight varsity women’s teams from across the country. The Ravens came out of the tournament with a fifth place finish after defeating Lakehead University and Dalhousie University, but losing in a close game to the University of PEI (UPEI) Panthers.
Head coach of the Carleton women’s basketball team Taffe Charles said the tournament allowed the players to shake off some rust coming out of the holiday season.
“I think they basically weren’t in the best physical shape they could have been in—that’s the biggest thing I’d take away from the first game . . . But I think day two we worked a lot harder and day three we worked even harder. We just needed to remind ourselves how hard we need to work to be successful,” Charles said.
The first game against UPEI came to a close finish with a final score of 66-63 for the Panthers, sending the Carleton Ravens into the consolation bracket of the competition.
Things picked up for the team in the next two games, first against Lakehead with a final score of 50-33 for the Ravens with an impressive show by first-year guard Cynthia Dupont-Letourneau, who went on to receive player of the game for her efforts.
The Ravens’ final exhibition game against Dalhousie ended in a 59-44 win for the team with a notable first half by third-year forward, Heather Lindsay, who scored her team 11 points in the first quarter, starting the Ravens off with an 18-12 lead.
Lindsay’s efforts during the tournament did not go unnoticed, as she went on to win player of the game twice, first in their game against UPEI and again in the team’s final game against the Dalhousie Tigers.
Lindsay credited her teammates, who she said really contributed to her player of the game awards.
“Obviously it’s an honour, but at the end of the day it is a team game,” said the forward. “I wouldn’t have been able to be so successful if it weren’t for my teammates.”
Going forward Lindsay said the team plans on working even harder in 2016.
“Going into the new year we’re really focusing on being consistent with our efforts and working hard,” Lindsay said. “Our main focuses are defending and rebounding, and so we want to be getting consistent stops and getting the rebounds to finish all the plays.”
Charles said another thing the team will be working on in the new year is how they play when they’re not on the home court.
“I don’t think we’ve played particularly well on the road,” Charles said. “We do a really good job of winning at home with the home-court advantage, but I think we need to do a better job on the road and kind of maybe get some better results on the road in terms of putting ourselves in the best position to make playoffs.”
The annual Capital Hoops classic is quickly approaching, where both the men’s and women’s basketball teams are preparing to face their cross-town rivals, the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.
Charles said for now the team is focusing on their upcoming home game against the Gee-Gees on Jan. 16, which he said will give the team a lot of preparation for the classic on Feb. 5.
