The Carleton Ravens women’s basketball team put up a strong weekend against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues at the Ravens’ Nest, winning 98-55 on Friday and 70-55 on Saturday.
The Ravens have struggled to keep a strong and consistent defensive strategy throughout the season. However, they showed significant improvement in both games against Toronto.
The flow of the games was stop-and-start, with the referees calling several fouls for both teams. The Varsity Blues came into the weekend ready to fight and kept that energy and aggressiveness throughout the games.
Ravens guard Océane Kounkou had an impressive first half on Friday and finished the game with four three-pointers.
Carleton guard Madison Reid also returned to the court after sitting out during Carleton’s matchup against uOttawa due to a tailbone injury.
By the end of Friday, all but one of the Ravens players had scored a basket, paving the way for an easy win.
On Saturday, the Ravens knew they would have to watch out for fouls and adjusted early on.
Ravens guard Dorcas Buisa played well, ending with a total of 13 points. Guard Tatyanna Burke also showed off her strengths, easily getting the first five points for the Ravens and ending the game with the second-most points on the team. Burke, who is also a strong defensive player, is third in Ontario University Athletics (OUA) with 111 rebounds.
Saturday, with a final score of 70-55, was a significantly closer game than Friday. Carleton head coach Dani Sinclair said although the team did well defensively, they weren’t as consistent as they had hoped.
When the Ravens were able to apply pressure on the Varsity Blues offense, they created turnovers. But they weren’t able to do that consistently throughout the game, with Sinclair saying the team is still trying to “figure each other out.”
The Ravens are fifth in the nation in points per game and their strong offense continued to show this weekend. When Carleton had a comfortable lead on Friday, many of the younger players on the team took to the court. This allowed for some of the veteran players to rest and recuperate in preparation for Saturday.
“[The younger players] work so hard every day in practice,” Sinclair said. “They’ve earned it every day in practice, so [we were] just giving them a chance to show what they can do.”
The older players on the team kept up the energy from the bench, encouraging the younger players on the court.
On Saturday, the team played well but missed many easy shots and free throws. They shot 32.4 per cent from the field, their lowest of the season and only marginally better than Toronto’s 30.5 per cent. Sinclair said this contributed to the low-scoring game.
“[The Varsity Blues] kept fighting. They wouldn’t go away,” Sinclair said.
The Ravens will face the uOttawa Gee-Gees Wednesday night in a rematch of their 63-43 win at Capital Hoops on Feb. 18.
Featured image by L. Manuel Baechlin.
