OTTAWA - The Carleton Ravens have advanced to the OUA championship game on Saturday evening after a 69-55 win over the McMaster Marauders.
With the win, the Ravens will now travel to face the Queen's Gaels for the Critelli Cup.
From the outset it looked to be a shooters game as Sarah Gates led the Marauders to a hot start. The OUA MVP and her teammates wouldn't turn down a shot setting up a gritty night ahead.
Trying to keep the talented Marauders at bay, the Ravens found themselves in foul trouble early in the first but managed to chip away to an 18-9 lead.
While Sarah Gates had six points for the visitors, OUA Rookie of the Year Jacqueline Urban (Ancaster, Ontario) put up a dominant 9 point quarter to help the Ravens get out to their lead.
Both teams tightened up defensively in the second quarter and it got tough for anyone to make a shot with McMaster shooting just 13.3% in the quarter and 18.2% for the first half. In their own game, the Ravens struggled from three-point range going 0/7 but still managing to hold a 32-18 lead at the half.
Despite four Ravens starting the second half with 2 fouls, Carleton didn't back down from their gritty defensive play. While Sarah Gates put up 12 points in the third quarter, Porcnic heated up as she and Kyana Jade Poulin both helped the Ravens build an insurmountable lead.
Carleton now advances to face the Queen's Gaels in the Critelli Cup, it's the Ravens' first trip back to the OUA championship game since winning it all in 2018. With the win, Carleton also qualifies for the U SPORTS Final 8 in Cape Breton beginning next Thursday.
"A tough physical battle against a very good team, they fought hard and close the gap pretty tight in the fourth quarter. But I'm proud of our girls for coming together, especially in the fourth quarter when the game had gotten tight."
On Kyana Poulin Covering Sarah Gates
"I thought she did an incredible job, I thought using her length and not making it easy for her to get catches and go downhill."
On Team Defence
"We ask them to play with lots of emotion, togetherness and talk on defence - and play with pace offensively. We try to create some easy scores by getting stops."
