The opening weekend of the 2024 half of the season sees the Carleton Ravens face a familiar foe as the Queen's Gaels come to town on Saturday night. The Gaels and Ravens twice in the post-season in 2023 with Carleton handling Queen's losses in the OUA Critelli Cup final and the U SPORTS championship game.
Carleton, Queen's and Ottawa are all log-jammed at the top of the OUA East division which each team suffering a single loss in the first half of the season. The number one ranked Ravens will look to bounce back from their December 6th loss to Ottawa when Ontario Tech opens the weekend schedule on Friday night.
The weekend presented by DoorDash promises Ottawa basketball fans great action with the women playing the first game of nightly doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday nights.
The 1-8 Ridgebacks enter Friday's game with the OUA's second-worst points against (724). The reigning U SPORTS rookie of the year Jacqueline Urban has continued her hot hand for the Ravens. The versatile forward has spent minutes at guard positions in the first half of the season and is second in scoring for the Ravens with 110 points in 10 games.
Teresa Donato has also played her part for the Ravens scoring 105 points, nearly reaching her 2022-23 total of 143 in just half the season.
Having only played at home twice in the first half, the Ravens have a significant amount of time at home in 2024, but perhaps nothing bigger than Saturday's matchup with the Gaels. Shooting 43% the Ravens lead the OUA, with Queen's entering the weekend in fourth at 37.8%. The Gaels are dangerous, especially from three, with an impressive 30% 3P%, good for second in the conference.
The Ravens' offence will need to continue firing if they want to come out of the weekend with two wins. Through the first half of the season, Carleton is fourth in U SPORTS with 78.4 points per game. This will surely be tested on Saturday when the Gaels arrive at the Nest with the nation's best points against average.
Tickets to both games are on sale now at GoRavens.ca/tickets.