Ravens women shoot for payback against Martlets
Revenge for last year’s ousting ups ante as Carleton seeks trip to basketball final
If the Carleton Ravens are looking for any kind of motivation going into Saturday’s U Sports Final 8 women’s basketball semifinal against the McGill Martlets, they just need to think back to a year ago.
It’s déjà vu, sort of, but this time the Ravens have a chance to do what they couldn’t in 2017: beat the Martlets when it counts.
A year ago in Victoria, the topranked Ravens struggled with their shooting and lost 66-60 to the Martlets, who went on to win a national championship thanks to a 66-55 triumph over the Laval Rouge et Or. Carleton would win the bronze medal, a nice consolation prize, 53-43 over the Queen’s Gaels.
Fast forward to this year. Again top-ranked, Carleton again has a big hurdle to leap: facing fourth-ranked McGill in Regina on Saturday.
It won’t be easy. It never is at this level.
“It’s a big one, a rematch,” said the Ravens’ stellar six-foot forward Elizabeth Leblanc, who received the country’s top defensive player award Wednesday night. “I’m definitely excited, and obviously we want to get the result this time around. The bronze was nice, but it wasn’t what we wanted. It’s still important to acknowledge that because we had more success than any of the years I’ve been here. I’m happy and grateful for that. Obviously, we wanted the gold, so this year that’s the goal.”
The Ravens, coming off a 52-42 win against the Calgary Dinos on Thursday, had a light practice Friday in preparation for facing the Martlets, who beat the McMaster Marauders 55-39 in their firstround contest.
Undefeated, with a 23-0 regularseason record and now four postseason victories, the Ravens come in as the team everyone is gunning for, but Leblanc said they weren’t getting caught up in the hype.
“The ranking is just a number,” she said. “Anyone in the country can beat anyone, as we’ve seen throughout the years. We definitely have a bull’s-eye on our back because other teams probably feel they should be No. 1. We take it game by game because we know that everything can flip in a second.”
It’s a tribute to the Carleton athletics program that its men’s and women’s basketball teams are both ranked first. The men’s team is trying to win an eighth straight national title — and 14th overall — in Halifax,
The Ravens women’s team is trying again to win its first.
“Obviously, the men’s team has had its success,” Leblanc said. "We had a taste of that last year. We got a medal ... none of the girls had experienced that. We want to be as successful as the men’s team, but a lot of us don’t compare the two teams. At the end of the day, it’s about us.
“In my first year, half the team were rookies. We maybe even outnumbered the vets. We were a .500 team, we weren’t that good. We’ve gotten better, we’re learned what it takes. It’s been nice to see that progression.”
While the Carleton women’s team has put up plenty of points this season, averaging 72.4 points per game, defence is its calling card, allowing a Canada-best 45.9 points per game.
“Defence is a huge part of our success,” Leblanc said. “One of my old coaches, Richard Nurse, would tell us defence wins championships. I’ve kind of kept that with me. Defence is such a huge thing to Taffe (Charles, Ravens head coach). Getting stops ... If you can hold a team to around 10 points a quarter, the scoring will eventually come. You motivate yourself when you’re getting stops. Everything just seems to flow. If you’re not making stops, it’s just up to who’s going to make the most shots. That could be 50-50. You’re leaving it to chance.”
Come Saturday, there’s much to prove.
“We don’t want to get too uptight, having nerves isn’t great,” Leblanc said. “We’re all kind of determined. We want to show our ability. We know what we’re capable of, but, if we get this done, it proves that we are what we thought we were.”