The Carleton Ravens women's basketball team will enter the OUA Playoffs as the number one seed following a weekend sweep in Oshawa and Kingston.
On Friday night, the Ravens found themselves behind early before breaking out in the second half to beat Ontario Tech 84-57 before outlasting the Gaels on Saturday for a 70-63 victory.
Carleton led by five after the first quarter on Friday but failed to build on their lead through two as Ontario Tech shot 50% in the second quarter to keep pace. The Ravens stuck to their rotations and started to flex their defensive muscle holding the Ridgebacks to 21% shooting in the second half. After Kali Pocrnic scored 11 to pull ahead in the third, the Ravens bench scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to ice their hosts.
On Saturday night, the Ravens were in a fight from the very start at the ARC in Kingston. Facing their rivals from Queen's, Carleton jumped out to an early lead only for the Gaels to battle back and trail by just three after 10 minutes.
Kali Pocrnic scored 6 of her team-high 14 points in the opening quarter while the Ravens generated five assists in the opening quarter. Carleton struggled to pull away in the second quarter as Queen's veteran Julia Chadwick scored seven points to help the Gaels keep pace with Carleton.
The third quarter turned into classic Carleton basketball with defence taking over. The Ravens locked down the Gaels allowing just ten points while extending their lead by two heading into the fourth quarter. The Ravens defence continued to work in the fourth, forcing seven turnovers while constantly having an offensive answer for the Gaels attack.
When it was all said and done, six Ravens scored eight or more points on Saturday while three, including Pocrnic, scored double-digits.
After passing 1,000 career points, Kali Pocrnic's career total has now reached 1,032 points. Pocrnic also finished the game with five assists helping improve her season total up to sixth all-time by a Raven (76). Pocrnic's 286 career assists are third all-time in program history.
The Ravens will open their defence of the Critelli Cup on Saturday, February 24 when they host an OUA Quarterfinal at 6:00 p.m. Tickets for this game are on sale now!
