The Carleton Ravens women’s basketball team’s strong defence shut down their weekend opposition, as they keep their eight-game win streak alive heading into the season’s most anticipated game thus far.
The Ravens forced 25 turnover when they beat the Nipissing Lakers 75-30 on Jan. 13 as part of the first of the back-to-back games at the Ravens’ Nest.
The strong defensive performance accompanied by a well balanced offence was key to the win.
Carleton’s top scorer, fourth-year forward Heather Lindsay, had a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds—five of which were offensive rebounds.
The inside presence of Lindsay allowed more perimeter shots from Ravens guard Stephanie Carr, who had a field goal percentage of 66 percent, and scored 15 points.
Nipissing’s slow offence in the second and third quarters were the downfall of the team, as they were only able to score 10 points combined.
The Lakers’ two best performers were guards Heidi Smith and Claire Abbott, who both recorded 11 points—making up for 22 of the 30 points scored by Nipissing.
According to Ravens head coach Taffe Charles, the key to the game was defence in the first quarter.
“I thought we set the tone early in terms in getting them out of sync offensively,” he said.
Lindsay also credited the win to defence.
“We really wanted to focus on defence,” she said. “We set a defensive goal every game and we met that.”
The following night, the Ravens’ win streak was on the line against the Laurentian Voyageurs.
Carr produced 17 points off the bench as the Ravens defeated Laurentian in a 67-39 victory. The Voyageurs slid into a three game losing streak with the loss.
The Ravens offence was cold in the first quarter with only 11 points and a handful of turnovers. The offensive spark was set off by starting guard Katherine Leblanc who had a total of nine points in the first half.
Laurentian came out in the third quarter with 16 points, which tested the Ravens’ defence.
But with key baskets from Lindsay and Carr, they were able to come out with a victory to preserve the win streak.
The Ravens will now be looking ahead to the game on Jan. 17 against the rivals University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.
Ravens forward Catherine Traer spent the last four seasons with the Gee-Gees and said she is excited to face her former team.
“We’re really excited for that, obviously we didn’t try to think about it too much but now we’re done these two games and looking forward to it,” she said, while adding there is extra motivation when taking on U of O.
“You don’t want to say there is a difference but we all know there is,” she said.
Ravens assistant coach Eric Parthenais said there is no difference in preparing for a game against U of O.
“We know it’s our rival but we can’t treat it any differently,” he said.
The Ravens will look to extend their eight-game win streak, while the Gee-Gees enter the game win three straight wins following a blowout win against Nipissing by a score of 88-32.
The game at Montpetit Hall tips-off at 6 p.m.
