VANCOUVER (Mar. 13, 2025) - The Carleton Ravens women's basketball team will play for a medal on Sunday after advancing to the U SPORTS Final 8 semifinals with a 71-44 win over the Bishop's Gaiters.
The Ravens wasted little time getting their footing in the first, showing off their punch-first style and building a 7-0 lead. Teresa Donato led the way with five points in the opening quarter as veterans Dorcas Buisa and Noelle Killbreat dropped four points each.
Holding a 16-8 lead at the break, Carleton faced a big pushback from the Gaiters as Eve Atchempone had 7 points to attempt to hold court. The Gaiters had made it a six-point game midway through the frame when a Dorcas Buisa layup stopped their momentum. The Ravens would lead by 14 at the break.
The Ravens rallied to lead by 18 to open the third before Bishop's responded. Despite a pair of baskets by Shaylan Greaves, Carleton was too much inside for the Gaiters as they took the fourth quarter rebound battle 14-4 and extended the lead to twenty by the break.
Bishop's had brought the game to within 18 in the fourth before a Teresa Donato three spelled the beginning of the end. Tatyanna Burke was strong in the paint in the fourth scoring a quarter-high 10 points. The Ravens defence would go into lockdown late in the game, shutting out the Gaiters for the final 3:03 on route to victory.
"Obviously, [there's] a lot of things that we wanna tighten up," said U SPORTS Coach of the Year Dani Sinclair. "[We] kind of followed the game plan defensively and won the rebounding battle, and got some good contributions from different people."
The Ravens have earned the right to rest and regroup, with a practice day on Friday. They will prepare to face Ottawa on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. PDT / 11:00 p.m. EDT. on the CBC Sports digital platforms.
After her first Final 8 game of her five-year U SPORTS career, Ravens guard Noelle Kilbreath reflected on what's next. "We're finding our game plan and making sure that we're ready to show up and compete," she explained. "We're super motivated as a whole."
The pre-scout will be deep for the Ravens when they prepare to face Ottawa for the fourth time this season.
