Recap The Court

Jacob Smith

The Carleton Ravens are 9-0, the Ottawa Gee-Gees are 8-1. The Carleton Ravens are undefeated, the Ottawa Gee-Gees are riding an 8-game winning streak, the third longest in the OUA behind the two undefeated teams. These two teams meet twice a year, and their first tonight, comes at the end of the first half of the season, and is sure to send us to the holiday break with a great taste in our mouths.

On one side you have the Carleton Ravens, the reigning OUA and U SPORTS champions off to the best start to a season you can have, in their title defence season. Kali Pocrnic is still leading the group and playing at a very high level, dissecting opponents and doing whatever is needed to win. Jacqueline Urban is the silent assassin who stands around the rim and waits to be called on where she’ll deliver whatever you need her to.

They have one of the deepest rotations in the OUA in terms of players who can step up at any given time and they have the champions resolve to never get too high or too low. There’s not much you can critique about this Ravens squad, the undefeated reigning champions are making a statement this season and they’re ranked as the best team in the country for a very good reason.

On the other side you have the Ottawa Gee-Gees, a team who lost their opening game to the Guelph Gryphons then decided they weren’t going to lose again. After going down 0-1, the Gee-Gees performance on the court got better game by game and you can see the chemistry growing as they got better within their system and individual roles. The addition of Allie McCarthy has been massive for the Gee-Gees with her length defensively and ability to stretch the floor, making room for the other guards.

Melina De Iulio has been a constant reliable piece for the Gee-Gees when they want to run their offence through the paint, playing the facilitator role and finding shooters on the perimeter at a high level. Emily Payne has taken another step forward this year taking on more minutes after the departure of Brigitte Lefebvre-Okankwu and Oksana Gouchie-Provencher. As every week goes by, the team filled with young and new faces, learns more and more about how to play with one another, and they keep piling on wins to prove it.

The Ravens are the top ranked offence in the OUA at 80 points per game and the Gee-Gees are the seventh ranked rebounding team at 38.9 per game. Ottawa getting out and running off defensive rebounds is a strong suit for them and they’ll need it to counter the high powered offence of the Ravens, and that starts with Natsuki Szczokin.

Natsuki is averaging 15.9 points per game with 4,2 rebounds and 3.9 assists, and her court vision helps set up opportunities quickly for the Gee-Gees who like to strike early.

Ottawa leads Carleton in both turnovers forced and steals per game, which puts a lot of emphasis on the player opposite of Natsuki, the MVP Kali Pocrnic. Kali is averaging 15.6 points per game, but her ability to get the ball moving and keeping the Gee-Gees defence moving will be important to not allow the Gee-Gees to set up and create opportunities to get out in transition.

Whether Ottawa can force steals and opportunities going the other way, or Carleton can control the glass and execute well in the half court being efficient with possessions, will be a key to deciding this game. These are two of the top teams in the OUA, and every little bit matters, especially in divisional games like this one.