OTTAWA - Teressa Donato and Tatyanna Burke hit a pair of final minute three-pointers as the Carleton Ravens knocked off the uOttawa Gee-Gees 61-58 at the Ravens' Nest. With the win, the Ravens advance to the OUA East Finals on Wednesday night in Toronto against the Rams.
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As a narrow three-quarter lead slipped away, the Carleton Ravens were able to turn to their depth as they stunned the uOttawa Gee-Gees with a pair of last-minute threes to advance to the OUA East Final.
In the first quarter, Madison Reid (Carleton Place, Ont.) and Tatyanna Burke (Winona, Ont.) got the Ravens started as they jumped out to an early leading before finishing the quarter ahead by four.
With each time the Ravens looked to pull away, Bridgitte Lefebvre-Okankwu and Nadine Katumbayi would lead the Gee-Gees in a response, allowing the Ravens to barely widen the gap in the second to finish ahead 28-22. The Ravens first half scoring was spread throughout the lineup with Dorcas Buisa, Madison Reid and Tatyanna Burke each chipping in 6 of the Ravens 28 points.
Carleton continued their momentum after the break pulling ahead by twelve before the Gee-Gees would start to claw back. With the Gee-Gees getting a late three from Natsuki Scszokin and a pair from Lefebvre-Okankwu the two teams finished the third quarter 42-35.
The Gee-Gees weren’t ready to give up and charged back to even the score with 6:43 to play. As the team teams traded off points, there was no edge to be found as the game entered its final heartbeats.
In the last minutes of the fourth quarter, leading by two, rookie guard Teresa Donato (Ottawa, Ont.) nailed a clutch three to give the Ravens some breathing room before Burke would hit a three of her own with 9 seconds remaining to give the Ravens a 6-point lead. Despite a late three from Scszokin, the Burke dagger would be enough as the Ravens would hold off the Gee-Gees and book their trip to Toronto to face the Rams.
For Tatyanna Burke (Winona, Ont.), tonight’s game was now or never. “Losing is really not an option for us and I think a lot of us practiced really hard for this game,” she explained. Burke was active on both sides of the court shooting 5-for-12 while finishing
“There's more work to be done," explained coach Dani Sinclair. "We've got to tighten up some things for sure.” The time to tighten up those things will be short. The Ravens will find themselves in downtown Toronto on Wednesday night as they take on the aforementioned and undefeated Rams in the OUA East final.
