Women’s Match-Up

Hooves proved faster than wings Friday evening, as the University of Ottawa’s Gee-Gees women’s basketball team rallied for a close 46-40 win over Carleton University’s Ravens at the annual Capital Hoops exhibition match-up.

“Definitely an ugly win, we’ll take it though,” said fourth-year Kellie Ring after the game, referencing the surprisingly poor Gee-Gee’s offensive approach. But a tight defense made up for the Garnet and Grey’s inability to rebound.

In the second-half, Carleton briefly stepped into the spotlight as Stephanie Carr demolished a dismal seven-minute score-absent stretch with a three. Her minute of fame quickly ended though as Forward Kellie Ring answered the Raven’s taunt with a layup of her own. Julia Soriano of the University of Ottawa was a frantic spectacle herself, battling several Ravens for an offensive rebound.

The most exciting part of the match was definitely in the last quarter, as both teams had been trailing one another off and on for the majority of the game. This led to a suspenseful last few minutes of play, with the Ravens making plenty of shots in an attempt to gain an edge over the winning Gee-Gees. Lucky for uOttawa though, none of them made it to the basket.
To seal the deal, Krista van Singerland landed a three with almost a minute remaining. For the rest of the quarter, the Gee-Gee’s maintained a six-point gap to clinch the ninth-annual Capital Hoops title.

Men’s Match-Up

The tides would turn for men’s play as the Ravens trumped the Gee-Gees 79-66 using a mixture of speed and crisp offensive play. The fast-paced approach tore through the Gee-Gee’s defensive lines, and as a result, the top OUA North Division earned their first loss. Fortunately for the Gee-Gees, their new 14-1 record won’t have consequences in their standing of first overall in the OUA.

By the time the men’s team eagerly ran onto the court, they were met by 10,780 fans (and more than a few inebriated) at the Canadian Tire Centre, a record crowd for a CIS league game. Even Ottawa Senators’ Curtis Lazar and Cody Ceci were at the game to cheer on Ottawa’s rival universities.

As always, uOttawa’s Johnny Berhanemeskel, also known as Johnny Basketball, was a crowd-pleaser, scoring the 28 points that carried his team throughout the evening. But just one player couldn’t save the game, especially when Carleton attacked the paint so viciously at the beginning, scoring 24 points in the first-half alone.

In the third, the Gee-Gees rose like a phoniex, obtaining a lead against the Ravens for a short time following a few clean breaks and a free running approach. But it was short-lived. Carleton’s aggressive pace made uOttawa pay for their lack of defensive discipline.
“We always preach the same thing and that is defense,” said fourth-year Vikas Gill. “We did that in the third quarter and that’s why we were able to come back like that, but couldn’t carry it over to the fourth unfortunately.”

Overwhelming the Gee-Gees with a nine-point lead in the fourth, and with only three minutes remaining, the Raven’s would proceed to keep the score margin comfortably out of reach of the tiring Gee-Gees.

Overwhelming the Gee-Gees with a nine-point lead in the fourth, and with only three minutes remaining, the Raven’s would proceed to keep the score margin comfortably out of reach of the tiring Gee-Gees.

With the final buzzer echoing throughout the arena, a sea of Raven’s fans, all wearing red or black, ran onto the court as the team won it’s fourth Capital Hoops title in a row.

The real question remaining now is if they’ll be able to maintain their stream of winning 10 of the last 12 national CIS titles later this year.