Mustangs' home opening weekend caps off with loss to Ravens

Box Score Veteran Jenny Vaughan scored a game-high 19 points but the Carleton Ravens (1-1) crashed the boards and showed its prowess from three-point territory to deal the Western Mustangs women's basketball team (1-1) its first loss of the season, 69 – 48.

Second-chance opportunities gave the Ravens an insurmountable shot advantage in the game. Carleton took 69 shots – with 26 coming from behind the arc - to the Mustangs’ 55 shots on the game.

Both teams began the game struggling to hit their target. Western shot only 31.3% from the field with Carleton succeeding on an even worse 23.8% shooting-percentage.

With usual starting forward Melissa Rondinelli nursing a shoulder injury, Carleton was able to overcome its inefficiency on offense by crashing the boards early for offensive rebounds.

Though it took a while for both teams to find their shooting-touch, the powerhouse Ravens always had an air of control over the contest.

Second-year Coach Brian Cheng explained the brunt of Western’s frustrations with their tough opposition.

“You have to give a lot of credit to Carleton,” said Coach Cheng. “They were taking us out of stuff (on offense). They were putting pressure on us and testing our fundamentals. We didn’t get it in the paint as much as we’d like to.”

“I thought Carleton was the more physical team.”

A deep Jenny Vaughan three-point buzzer-beater to end the first quarter would cut the Ravens’ lead to 17 – 14 after 10 minutes of action.

The Ravens began to remedy their early shooting woes in the second quarter. Proficiency from beyond the three-point arc allowed Carleton to pull out to an 11-point lead before Coach Cheng was forced to call a timeout.

Carleton had its 10 unanswered-point streak finally met by an Annabel Hancock jump-shot.

The teams traded buckets to hold for a 37 – 26 halftime lead for Carleton.

The Mustangs then started the third quarter showing tremendous hustle for a team that had been dominated for much of the first half. Unfortunately, the Mustangs’ offense would sputter and stall on several drives to the hoop. Vaughan would score Western’s first points of the second half nearly five minutes into the third quarter.

While the game was the second of the Mustangs' early season, the team struggled in the third quarter versus Carleton in the ten minutes after the half. Carleton beared down on its opponent, continuing to find shots and erase memories of some first-half shooting woes.

The Mustangs scored only four points to the Ravens’ 15 in the third quarter, stretching Carleton’s lead to 52 – 30 with one more quarter to play.

Leading by 25 points with five minutes to play, the Ravens took most of its starters out of the game and relied on its bench to hold for the victory.

Though Coach Cheng has insisted that rebounding needs to be a team effort this season, it is easy to see where Rondinelli might have helped her team’s effort had she been healthy.

The scrappy fourth-year veteran provides both consistent physicality and quiet leadership both on the court and in the locker room. For the Mustangs to match up with the bigger teams in the OUA like Carleton, the team needs to find some way to make up for the short-term loss of one of its key players.

“We can’t lay blame on people who aren’t (able to play). If one player is not here, we need to pick it up; we have to make sure we do it as a team,” said Coach Cheng.

“There are opportunities for someone else to step up. Rondinelli took advantage of an opportunity this year, so now there needs to be someone else, either an individual or the entire team (to step up).”

Krista Van Slingerland led the Ravens with 17 points – with five successful three-point attempts.
Second-year forward Jory McDonald tied Vaughan for a team-high seven rebounds. Carleton’s Lindsay Shotbolt came off the bench to pace the game with 11 rebounds.

The Mustangs will leave the confines of Alumni Hall for a game at York on Friday, November 16^th. Western’s road-trip continues in Sudbury versus the Laurentian Voyageurs on November 17^th. Tip-off is at 6:00 PM for both games.

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