Recap The Court

Jacob Smith

Last year there were two women’s basketball teams who stood above them all, and they met in the OUA and national championship final. The Carleton Ravens finished second in the OUA East division and won the OUA and the national championship, and the team that finished first in the division and met them in both championship games, the Queen’s Gaels.

After years of growth within a core of players and a U SPORTS bronze medal during the 2021-2022 season on their home court, the Gaels took the step forward in 2022 capturing a silver in the conference and the country. They’re now running it back, with three players not returning, 11 returning and three confirmed recruits with more on the way.

The 2022 season, outside of the championship games, couldn’t have gone much better for the Gaels. Their only losses came to teams within their division, specifically the Carleton Ravens and Ottawa Gee-Gees who finished second and third in the OUA East. They controlled the glass for the most part and when they got their corner threes, they were hitting. If you were to look for something the Gaels struggled with, it’s depth inside the paint, and it showed when they went against the Ravens with Emma Keisekamp and Jacqueline Urban.

Obviously you’d be looking for a needle trying to criticize last year’s results, but more size in their depth is something the Gaels should add, and it’s what they’ve added so far. Two of their three recruits are 6’2-6’3, a 6’2 shooting guard and a 6’3 forward.

Katrina Renon, the sister of Ava and Alana who also play U SPORTS basketball, is a 6’3 forward starting play at Queen’s in the 2023 season. Playing alongside Julia Chadwick and Bridget Mulholland inside, Katrina will be a vital piece off the bench to help the second unit maintain their presence defensively.

Not just against the Ravens, but when you look back on their games against the Gee-Gees and their trio of Emily Payne, Oksana Gouchie-Provencher and Brigitte Lefebvre-Okankwu, when Julia and Bridget weren’t on the floor together, it felt like one of them was doing the job of two people, and having that added help will relieve some of the pressure, allowing Bridget and Julia to dominate as they have been.

The Gaels guard position is sured up, with the return of Emma Weltz, Laura Donovan, Isabella Gaudet, Bella Belvedere and Haley Barbieri who all saw important minutes throughout the 2022 season, they add Maddy Boyd and Keira Spencer to the mix and you can probably expect them to be just as versatile as they showed in 2022.

With the Gaels, it’s about how to bring home the hardware. They’ve been to the national championship tournament twice and won a medal each time, and last year they won a OUA silver. This year, they want to run it back and bring home the gold. They were in arguably the best division in U SPORTS last season with the Ravens and Gee-Gees giving a fight for the top seed all year long.

If they play even just under how they did last season, they’ll be among the best in the OUA in 2023. With holes in depth in the second unit with the departing of Michelle Istead, Abbey Heatherington and Liressa Gokhool-Jefferson, the additions of Boyd, Spencer and Renon and more incoming recruits will have shoes to fill, and a team to elevate so this group that have grown and evolved together, can reach the pinnacle they’ve been so close to.