Recap The Court

Jacob Smith

Kali Pocrnic is a 5’4 guard from Oakville Ontario who has seen and done everything in the OUA. From winning at Lincoln Prep in the OSBA to being a full-time starter in her first year with the Ravens, Kali has grown with the transitioning Ravens team, and become the best point guard in the country going to the U SPORTS Final 8 to defend her national championship.

Already a three time OUA All-Star, a U SPORTS Second Team All-Canadian and a U SPORTS Final 8 MVP, Kali has won two OUA Critelli Cups and a U SPORTS Final 8 National Championship. The MVP of the final finished with 20 points as the Ravens held on to win the 2024 OUA Critelli Cup, and as she was being subbed back into the game late in the fourth quarter, you could sense nothing about the moment was new to her, and there was nothing that could be thrown at her which she hasn’t seen.

That goes back to her first year, and the experience she gained starting all 22 games for the Ravens as their rookie point guard. Playing alongside players like Madison Reid, Marlee Ball, Emma Huff and Alyssa Cerino, Kali was leading a team that just two years ago went completely undefeated winning the OUA and U SPORTS championship.

The Ravens went 15-7 that year, losing to Ottawa in the OUA quarterfinal, but the season wasn’t over for the Ravens. They were chosen to host the U SPORTS Women’s Basketball Final 8 that year which gave them a host seed for the tournament, and with up to three games remaining in their year, Kali Pocrnic and the large group of rookies playing under the leadership of championship veterans, we’re put on a national stage against the best competition in the country.

14 points and four assists in the Ravens opening game against the eventual champion Saskatchewan Huskies set the groundwork for Kali in her first national championship experience. Using her quick first step and decisive movement that she’d showcase through her next three seasons,

Kali’s second season, the 2021-2022 OUA season, saw the Ravens finish 10-4 and heading back to the playoffs. Starting every game and averaging 14.6 points per game, Kali took a significant leap in her ability to dissect defences and play off her group of teammates, a majority of which started with her in 2019. Kali’s career high field goal percentage and three-point percentage came during the 2021-2022 shortened season, and the Ravens furthest push into the OUA playoffs was a result with the Ravens losing to the eventual champion TMU Bold in the OUA semifinals, one game away from the Critelli Cup final and a spot at nationals.

Kali earned her first OUA First Team All-Star during the 2021-2022 season, and the year after she’d earn her first tournament MVP, and her first championship. The Ravens went 19-3 during the 2022-2023 OUA regular season, losing to the Queen’s Gaels, Brock Badgers and Ottawa Gee-Gees. Despite going 1-1 in the regular season against the Gaels, Carleton met Queen’s in both the OUA and National Championship and won both times, securing both trophies and the first U SPORTS Tournament MVP for Kali.

What stood out the most about Kali’s play during 2022-2023 was something we’d see much more of the year after, her ability to know exactly what her team has to do in specific situations, and her ability to manipulate defences through her ability with the ball, to get exactly what she’s looking for. As Kali got more and more experience on the floor, she understood more and more situations and how teams were going to defend her when they needed a three or needed to get to the rim or when they started a certain motion, and in 2022-2023 we saw how she was able to counter off that. Reading how teams were playing and constantly staying steps ahead of the opponent, Kali was able to use her quick first step and great dribbling to get to spots on the floor with ease and create opportunities both for her and for everyone around her.

She was cementing herself as one of the best point guards in the country, she was a provincial and national champion, and she was coming back for more.

Now, with the 2024 U SPORTS Final 8 on the horizon, Kali Pocrnic is taking the Ravens back to the tournament, as the two seed and the two-time back-to-back OUA champs. The Ravens went 21-1 in their title defence season, and Kali individually showed that she should be at the top of the list of point guards in Canada, with some spectacular moments, the biggest of them all late in the fourth quarter of the OUA championship.

The Queen’s Gaels and Carleton Ravens met again in the 2024 OUA Critelli Cup final, and the Gaels were fighting back from an 19-point deficit in the second half to make it a one-possession game late in the fourth. Playing with four fouls, Kali sat for a stretch during the middle of the fourth as the Ravens fought to keep the charging Gaels away, but as Kali subbed back in with minutes remaining, the tide immediately shifted, and Kali steered the ship towards a 63-55 win.

The Capital Hoops classic against Ottawa where she made clutch free throws to ice the game, the Critelli Cup final against Queen’s with her three-point shooting and facilitator skills, Kali at the end of games during the 2023-24 regular season consistently put the dagger in during the closing moments. With just a little bit of space, her years of reading how teams played her and how they reacted to every little thing she did, made her a maestro of closing games and securing a Ravens win.

On the offensive end Kali can play with as much pace as anyone else in the league. Her quick dribbling skills matched her her first step and ability to get defenders on her hip playing off a screen makes her someone that will garner a lot of attention from help defenders trying to prevent the penetration and the drives to the rim Kali has become great at finishing even through contact. As her career has went on, she’s added more and more of a three-point threat, adding another level to her game, and her instincts as a facilitator has given her the balance of knowing when she has to put the game in her hands and when she can create for others.

Her instincts also flow into her defence. Her speed allows her to keep up with many on the perimeter. Playing through contact as she does when she challenges teams inside the paint, has given her a toughness as a defender where she won’t get pushed of the ball, constantly being on the side of the person with the ball and waiting for her opportunity to use her quickness and get a steal.

There’s no situation Kali hasn’t been in through her years of being a full-time starter and her two years of U SPORTS Final 8 experience prior to the 2023-24 season. Tie games against top opponents, games where they lead by a significant margin, games where they were outplayed, games where she is and isn’t in foul trouble, Kali has been in every situation you can imagine, and all of it has made her someone incredibly difficult to stop, and the leader and engine of a team who’s lost a combined four games over two seasons, going back to defend their National Championship.