Recap The Court

Jacob Smith

Round 1 of the OUA Critelil Cup playoffs starts on Wednesday February 21st. With the first round, the fifth through 12th seeded teams go at it for a chance to play one of the top four teams in the quarterfinals. The fifth seed Ottawa Gee-Gees host the Laurentian Voyageurs in the fifth seed versus 12th seed game, and these are two teams with very different journeys to this point.

For the Ottawa Gee-Gees, they opened the season with a loss followed by a winning streak that was only matched by Carleton and Brock in the second semester. Finishing 18-4, if you were to put Ottawa through the eye test, they look like they make a very strong case for the best team in the league. Beating Carleton at home earlier in the season and beating Queen’s in Kingston days ago, they’ve played the top teams and they’ve conquered the top teams, and when they’re rolling, they’re a wrecking ball that gains more and more momentum.

A big strength for the Gee-Gees is their transition game. Their guard pairing of Natsuki Szczokin and Ariane Saumure play really well off each other and their defensive instincts creates nightmares for opposing guards. WIth both their abilities to generate turnovers and steals, they start a lot of transition opportunities, and Melina De Iulio and Allie McCarthy are there to take advantage, being the recipient of a lot of outlet passes from the guards. When Ottawa can get out and run, they get into their offence faster than anyone and they have a lot of shotmakers that can get to their spots and hit early in the shot clock.

Ottawa being able to get their pace going and create havoc for the Voyageurs will give them the boost to get the win, and creates a challenge for the Voyageurs who slow the pace down.

Laurentian got to the playoffs via a lot bumpier of a road than the Gee-Gees. Through an up-and-down season, they finished 6-16 and secured their seed thanks to a win versus Algoma and a Toronto loss to Laurier and Waterloo. For Laurentian, they execute when they can slow the game down and work their half court offensive sets, and their secret lies in when they can work the ball inside the paint and they get their posts Emilie Lafond and Aneisha Rismond good touches early in the game.

When Lafond is in rhythm offensively, she adds another level to the Laurentian offence with the attention she pulls to the paint. For the Voyageurs to be successful, they will need her to be confident and taking all the chances she gets, to establish that presence inside the paint which will take pressure off the guards.

Natsuki and Ariane are going to apply a lot of pressure around half court defensively to try and force a steal and get the ball going the other way, which makes not turning the ball over even more vital for the Voyageurs. Not getting too flustered when faced with the pressure of Ottawa’s guards, and making smart easy passes is incredibly important against this Gee-Gees defence, and Laurentian will need to display patience and stick to their game plan on Wednesday. To work their offensive sets with the motion they have, not having the ball stick in areas too long which allows for the Ottawa guards to close the space between them and the ball, and not taking extra unnecessary risks will give them the best shot at defeating the hot Gee-Gees squad. Ottawa thrives by creating chaos for the other team, and Laurentian being able to operate smoothy and confidently through that chaos is vital.

One team has been on a roll throughout the season, and the other has done what is required to make it into the playoffs. Now they face each other with the Waterloo Warriors waiting in the second round.