In their second home game of the season, the Guelph Gryphon women’s basketball team faced off against the CIS No.10 ranked Carleton Ravens, losing by a score of 66-53 at the W.F. Mitchell Athletic Centre on Saturday Nov. 9.
After losing their home opener on Friday, Nov. 8 to the University of Ottawa Gee-Gee’s 67-61, Guelph was looking for their first win of the season. However, they were was stifled by the stingy defense and resilient offense of the Carleton team, led by fifth year guard, Elizabeth Roach. Roach had a monster game for the Ravens, scoring 31 points on 11-21 shooting to go along with two steals and eight rebounds, causing lots of trouble for the Guelph defense all night.
The Gryphons were led by third-year forward, Katherine MacTavish, who finished with 19 points, 13 rebounds and 3 assists, while going 9-12 from the free throw line.
Despite MacTavish’s big game, Carleton proved too much to handle for the Gryphons, jumping out to an early lead and outscoring Guelph 18-11 in the opening quarter, in which the Gryphons shot a paltry 15.4 per cent from the floor.
Guelph would begin to storm back in the second quarter though, scoring 12 points to cut the lead to 28-23 for Carleton at halftime, capped off by an impressive hook shot by MacTavish at the half-time buzzer.
The Gryphons seemed to carry the momentum into the third quarter, cutting the lead to 33-36 on a three pointer by second-year guard, Erica McFadden, who had 10 points and five rebounds in the loss. The three pointer was followed up by a big defensive block by second-year forward, Julia Tennant, who played tenacious defense all game and finished with 11 points and eight rebounds on the night. A minute later, the Gryphons would get to within two points of the Ravens off a nice layup by second-year forward, Katelyn Yallin, which led to a Carleton timeout and a pumped up the Guelph home crowd. However, that was as close as Guelph would get, as Carleton went on an 8-0 run following the timeout, led by the dynamic Roach, and were up 48-41 going into the final quarter.
Roach, who had 21 of her 31 points in the second half, seemed to be able to score at will in the fourth quarter, at one point scoring six straight points to pull Carleton ahead by 10 with two minutes left to play.
The Ravens would go on to outscore the Gryphons 18-12 in the fourth quarter, capping off the 13 point victory and the second loss in as many games for the Gryphons. The loss keeps Guelph winless with a record of 0-4 on the season, while the win pushed Carleton’s record to 3-1.
The Gryphons hit the court next on Nov. 15, when they head to Sudbury to take on the Laurentian Voyageurs, who are 1-3 on the season.