There's no place like home and the Nest has been cozy this year for the women's basketball team. On Saturday night, the Ravens knocked off the TMU Bold by 31 points to wrap up another weekend sweep and close out the home half of their schedule.
Despite only playing at home twice in 2023, the Ravens quickly found a rhythm in 2024. After knocking off Queen's and Ontario Tech to open the schedule, Carleton has been a perfect 8-for-8 inside Alumni Hall.
On Friday, Carleton hosted the Toronto Varsity Blues and quickly went to work, outscoring Toronto 55-22 in the first half. The Ravens were able to take over inside against Toronto, outscoring the visitors 44-8 in the paint. Carleton's success in the black came in no small part to their control of the rebounds. Led by veteran Hadeza Ismaila with 13, Carleton recorded more defensive rebounds 32 than Toronto did in total rebounds (31).
The Ravens worked hard throughout the evening, rotating through all twelve players in their line-up while six different Ravens recorded seven or more points. Teresa Donato would lead the way with 17 points on Friday before putting up 13 on Saturday in the Ravens' 93-39 win over the TMU Bold.
Shooting almost 50% on the evening, Carleton gave one of their well-documented defensive performances in the first half, holding TMU to just 10 points per quarter before letting the visitors grind down the lead in the second half. After shooting just 30% and 21% in the opening two quarters, the Bold found some consistency in the second half, shooting 42% in the third. Jayme Foreman led the visitors with nine points in the quarter and led all players with 29 on the night.
Despite Foreman's impressive performance, the Bold couldn't match Carleton's depth as seven players scored 7 or more points including a team-leading 19 from Oceanne Kounkou. With six three-pointers made in the game, Kounkou moved just two back of taking sole possession of eighth place all-time among three-point shots made by a Raven.
Second-year guard Jacqueline Urban went about her business again on the weekend recording a double-double on Saturday in just 27 minutes of work.
The Ravens will head on the road next weekend where they face Ontario Tech before closing out the regular season with a Critelli Cup and U SPORTS Final 8 Championship rematch at Queen's. Carleton can finish no worse than second in the OUA standings but will look to close out the top seed in the OUA playoffs by extending their winning streak past its current ten-game mark.
