Ravens get ruined
photo by Alex Smyth
Tag team: Morasse (6) had a game-changing shot from downtown, while Sunley-Paisley (21) won the match-up with Carleton counterpart Ines Jelic (21).
Women’s basketball team advances to OUA finals
FOR THE SECOND year in a row, the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees (12-10) waited until it mattered before beating the Carleton Ravens (18-4) in women’s basketball. After losing three games over the course of the season to the Ravens (twice during the regular season and once at the Concordia-Reebok tournament in December), Ottawa defeated Carleton 59-54 on Feb. 27 at the Ravens’ Nest in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East final.
“[I feel] absolutely fantastic. I’m so excited to go to nationals and we definitely have a shot at winning [the OUA fi nals],” said a jubilant Hannah Sunley-Paisley aft er the victory. The third-year centre led the way for Ottawa, scoring 26 points and nabbing eight rebounds.
Though the Gees started slowly, trailing 4-2 in the opening minutes of the game, they soon rallied and went on a 9-0 run to take an 11-4 lead. The Gees put heavy defensive pressure on Carleton, forcing numerous turnovers and allowing the unwelcomed vistors to take a 24-10 lead by the middle of the second quarter. However, the Ravens soon battled back and trailed 28-20 going into the half.
While the Gees had disrupted Carleton’s offence in the first half, they proved more difficult to contain in the second. Th e Ravens dug in their heels and caught up to Ottawa, taking the lead at points during the third and fourth quarters.
It was not until late in the fourth quarter that the momentum completely swung back in Ottawa’s favour. With two minutes to go and the score tied 49-49, third-year guard Emilie Morasse nailed a shot from downtown to put Ottawa up 52-49. From there, Ottawa pulled away from the Ravens, extending their lead just enough to put victory out of reach for Carleton in the final, stoppage-plagued minute of play.
“[Scoring the three-pointer] felt pretty good,” said Morasse aft er the game. “I think I rushed my shot a little bit, but it was a good turning point in the game and we needed that.”
Gee-Gees head coach Andy Sparks credited the team’s excellent execution of his game plan and tough defensive work to earn Ottawa the victory.
“I’m so proud of the girls, because we really executed very well,” said Sparks after the game. “We tried to take [Carleton guard] Alyson Bush out of it a little bit, and I think we did that. And that’s credit to the defensive players—there were a lot of people who stepped up on the defensive end to help with that.”
Both Sunley-Paisley and Morasse praised Sparks’ preparation for elevating their personal games.
“We knew what [plays] they were running, and we just executed our game plan,” said Morasse. “They would do a play, and we would expect it. There was one where they were setting up a screen, and I just stood in the key and [a Carleton player] ran me over, and we got a foul out of it. It’s just because [Sparks] told me they were going to do that.”
“[Carleton’s] game plan has worked really well in the past because I haven’t been a very patient post player,” said Sunley-Paisley, who more than doubled her previous points totals against the Ravens. “For the past week in practice, [Sparks] has been really enforcing [the idea of] holding the ball for two seconds, look around, face up, and that’s really helped me expand my post game, finding open players and fi nding holes to the basket.”
With the win, Ottawa now has a guaranteed berth to the national championships, hosted by McMaster University in Hamilton March 12–14. They next play March 6 at 3 p.m. at Montpetit Hall, when they will host the winner of the OUA West Final between Western (17-5) and Windsor (22-1).
