Carleton earned a 10 game win streak by defeating the U of O
TD Place played host to the second-ranked Carleton Ravens and the eighth-ranked University of Ottawa Gee-Gees for the sixteenth iteration of Capital Hoops.
For the second game in a row, the Gees were without star Brigitte Lefebvre-Okankwu, who averages 16 points per game.
The game started as a track meet, with the tempo being set at a high pace early. Natsuki Szczokin opened the scoring with a three. Those would be her first of eight points in the opening frame.
Later in the quarter, the Ravens’ smothering defence helped Carleton overtake the Gees’ early lead, putting them up 15-11 at the end of the first.
The Gees were one for eight from beyond the arc in the first quarter, which stifled their overall scoring.
At the start of the second quarter, the Gees hit two straight threes out of the break, one from Nadine Katumbayi and the next from Oksana Gouchie-Provenche. The Gee-Gees hit one more three, forcing the Carleton coach to call a timeout.
It was evident the Ravens’ full-court press was causing trouble for the Gees guards, forcing multiple possessions where Gees could not set their offence, let alone get a clean shot off.
Meanwhile, the Ravens were heating up on offence as they went up 28-20. Katumbayi would end the scoring drought with another three.
But Carleton still took the lead at half by a score of 34-25. The Gees shot only 26.7% from the field; however, shooting 57.1% from three kept them in the game.
The real difference was rebounding, though. The Gees allowed ten offensive rebounds in the first half alone, which afforded the Ravens many second-chance points.
Starting off the second half, Katumbayi hit another triple. Bringing her total three-pointers hit to three on the evening.
During the third, Kali Pocrnic took a crazy heat check from far beyond the arc, prompting the Gee-Gees to talk it over. It was not looking good, with the U of O down 32-47 late in the third quarter.
The Gees did outscore the Ravens 20-19 in the quarter, which meant they went into the last quarter down 45-53.
The fourth quarter was a battle all the way through. Dorcas Buisa was draped all over Szczokin for the duration of the quarter. Szczokin managed to find a way to get free and sink a three to bring the Gees within three part way through.
Carleton’s Jacqueline Urban fouled out down the stretch with two and a half minutes remaining.
After an unsportsmanlike foul from Carleton, Nadine shot two free throws, bringing the deficit to six once more. But that’s as close as the Gee-Gees would get as Ravens went on to take it 66-60 after a hard-fought game from both teams.
