OTTAWA - The Carleton Ravens bench came through in a big way as they took care of the University of Toronto Varsity Blues 98-55 on Friday night. The bench scored 50 points including 18 from Oceanne KounKou as the Ravens bench erased an early first-quarter deficit before leading for the final 34 minutes.
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Despite scoring first, the Ravens would trade leads with the Blues throughout the first five minutes before an Emma Huff three-pointer would give the Ravens the lead with 4:31 to play in the first quarter. The Ravens would lead the rest of the way, improving their record to 8-2.
Asked about the slow start, coach Dani Sinclair acknowledged the team gave Toronto too much room to play their game. "In the first three or four minutes we let them play to their strengths, let their shooters shoot and picked up some bad fouls." As the game went on, the Ravens would get back to their game plan and focus on their discipline. "That's something we've been focused on for months, playing defence and communicating."
"We just needed to be way more solid defensively, that is our only focus on the bench, being fundamental, and we trust that our offensive will come from that."
While the Ravens look to find some consistency on defence, the third-year guard Huff has been a shining light since the restart. On Friday, Huff had 17 points on eight of ten shooting, including going three-for-three from beyond the arc. "She's versatile and can do it in a number of different days," said coach Sinclair. "That leadership voice has been the biggest part in her approach, we do have a relatively young team and she models that approach well every day in practice and you get good outcomes in games when you do that every day."
For Huff, her approach is about sticking to the fundamentals while just playing hard. "I'm most successful when I'm just playing as hard as I possibly can, not thinking about it too much, just playing."
Huff and the Ravens will look to complete the sweep on Saturday when they host the Blues at 3:00 p.m.
