Ravens Sports Information (Photo: Valerie Wutti)
The Ravens women’s basketball team have won 9 straight following a 63-49 win at Ontario Tech on Saturday night.
For the second straight night the Carleton Ravens women’s basketball team relied on dominant defensive play to pull away in the third quarter. After struggling late in the second quarter and ending the half tied at 33 the Ravens stormed away in the third holding Ontario Tech to three points.
“It was an up-and-down and inconsistent game,” explained coach Dani Sinclair. “Ontario Tech is a good team and they have good athletes, so we had no sense of taking them little, but we were a little disappointed with our energy and effort off the bat.” Sinclair would go on to explain that the team took until the third quarter to find their groove, which is when they would shut down the Ridgebacks allowing them to only score three points.
It’s the second straight night the Ravens’ defence has dominated the third after holding Queen’s to one point on Friday. The Ravens were led by Jacqueline Urban (Ancaster, Ont.) as the first-year forward had a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Carleton started slow at times, trailing in the first quarter before leading by six at the first break. In the second, Carleton could never stretch their lead beyond seven points before Sara Esongola Biango and Kamelya Brodeur heated up, sending the two teams to the half tied.
After the Ridgebacks opened the scoring the third, Carleton went on a 22-1 run which included back-to-back threes from Teresa Donato (Ottawa, Ont.) and Kali Pocrnic (Oakville, Ont.) before Urban rang off five straight points of her own. On their last possession of the quarter, Donato made the most of a Ravens offensive rebound to hit her second three of the quarter and put the Ravens up by 19 heading into to fourth.
Carleton would turn it over to their depth for the fourth and despite a push back from the Ridgebacks would hold on for the victory.
The Ravens are back in action on Friday night in the annual Capital Hoops Classic at The Arena at TD Place when they face the uOttawa Gee-Gees. Tickets for the Classic are now available at TDPlace.ca/Tickets.
On the team’s play…
“We’ve got to be better, if you want to achieve your goals and you have lofty goals you’ve got to bring it every day, and I don’t think we’re doing that yet.”
On the big third quarters…“Tonight it’s the difference in the game, we lose by nine in the fourth quarter and if we don’t have that effort in the third and hold them defensively we’re in a game down the stretch on the road. I think last night is some of the best defence we’ve played as a group, and that’s really important for us to be able to do that more consistently not just do it in the third quarter but throughout the game.”
