“Deciding to retire has been one of the most difficult decisions of my life. I always say family comes first and I need to live up to my own words. I am very proud of what we have all accomplished to make this team into a national championship contender and more importantly, a great place to play,” said Sparks, in a press release.
“The entire basketball community finds a way to get to that game and that’s what makes it just so awesome,” added Derouin. [On] a special night, we were able to get a win.”
One of the standouts of this year’s Capital Hoops Classic may not have been on the court, but rather in the stands. As it had been multiple times this season, the women’s basketball team played to a much smaller crowd than the men’s team.
After defeating Carleton to earn their place in the OUA semifinals, the Gee-Gees were back at home on Wednesday night for a match full of three-pointers, fast transitions, and hard defence against the Ryerson Rams. The Gee-Gees dug their way out of a 15 point deficit but the Rams took the game 84-76.
The University of Ottawa women’s basketball team pulled an impressive fourth-quarter comeback to beat the Carleton Ravens 76-75 in the 14th annual Capital Hoops classic.
“I’m so proud of the school—they’ve stepped up, they did travel well, we had a whole section there that was hugely supportive and we felt it. I couldn’t be more proud.”— Andy Sparks, Gee-Gees head women’s basketball coach.
“We’re going to see this team again. We don’t take this lightly—we’re going to use this as motivation.” —Angela Ribarich, Gee-Gees centre.
“It was a game that had a lot on the line, and we did have a high stress level. But you can tell with our press offence that our seniors were struggling with the ball at the end, but a learning experience will be better next time.’’ —Andy Sparks, Gee-Gees head women’s basketball coach.
This year, U of O varsity teams have been giving back to the community in many different ways—some donating blood, others going to developing countries to teach their respective sports, while still others focused on more local causes.
“They’d won the last three Capital Hoops, and it was big for us momentum-wise heading into the last stretch of the regular season, and a big step towards that bye.’’ —Andy Sparks, Gee-Gees head women’s basketball coach.
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