The Carleton Ravens women’s basketball team were able to take home the Capital Hoops trophy at the Canadian Tire Centre with a 57-41 win over the University of Ottawa (U of O) Gee-Gee’s.
The win marks the Ravens 20th straight win of the regular season and pushed them one more step closer to achieving a perfect season.
The Ravens stormed out of the gate to begin the first quarter by taking advantage of a couple of missed shots by the Gee-Gees offence.
Carleton Ravens center Heather Lindsay was making her presence felt early inside the paint by scoring six of the Ravens 11 points to start the game.
Ravens guard Cynthia Dupont was also making the most of her opportunities after draining a three and making a tough baseline jumper midway through the first. Ravens guard Catherine Traer and Lindsay joined in on the fun with two great blocks on the consecutive drive.
Dupont would finish the first half with a team-leading 11 points and an 80 per cent field goal rating by the end of the first quarter.
“Cynthia’s a very good offensive player,” said Ravens head coach, Taffe Charles. “[She] can score with the basketball. We haven’t been able to showcase her that much because we have a deep team, but when you see her back [next year], you’re going to see her score a lot more.”
Lindsay finished the half with eight rebounds and four blocks as the Ravens held a 24-9 lead to close off a solid defensive performance by Carleton.
The second quarter would be a different story for the Ravens after U of O forward Angela Ribarich connected on two crucial buckets back-to-back to keep the Gee-Gees within distance of the Ravens.
Carleton hit a cold streak on offence and went pointless during the opening six minutes of play before Ravens forward Alyssa Cerino knocked down a three from the top of the arc.
The Gee-Gees answered quickly with a three of their own by forward Amélie Hachey to finish off a beautiful offensive and defensive sequence midway through the second quarter.
Traer, a former Gee-Gee herself, brought life back into the Ravens’ offence late in the second by grabbing her own offensive rebound before burying a close two-point jumper. Carleton went into halftime leading Ottawa 34-24, knowing fully well that the Gee-Gees could attempt a comeback at any time.
“We had a lot of opportunities on offence,” Lindsay said. “Some of them we didn’t capitalize on. We were a little shaky to finish off the game, but overall, I think we did a good job.”
The Ravens entered the second half with Jenjen Abella catching the Gee-Gees defence sleeping, and converting on a breakaway layup to open up scoring for both teams.
Midway through the third quarter, Hachey was able to get the Gee-Gees back on track with a three and a two-point jumper.
Elizabeth Leblanc had seen enough of Ottawa’s comeback attempt and answered back with a three of her own to give Carleton a 43-32 lead going into the final quarter.
After failing to record a single point the entire game, Ravens guard Nicole Gilmore grabbed her first points of the game by hitting a three from the far corner. Leblanc followed up by making a leaping block, which would send her falling into the open space behind the net.
With Carleton’s defence providing very little opportunity for Ottawa’s offence to muster any points, the Ravens would only need to run out the remainder of the clock to capture the victory.
The Ravens now look forward to the rest of their season, where they will make an attempt to return to nationals.
“We always think of the loss to McGill in the semi-finals last year and [how] we couldn’t finish the game and we couldn’t win,” Traer said. “At the end of the day, we got to win our next four games, and then we need to win our playoff games and win that championship.”
Photo by Aaron Hemens
