In basketball, size is supposed to matter. Queen’s women’s basketball did their best to dispel that notion over Reading Week, however, putting together two strong playoff outings, before bowing out in the OUA semifinals.
The undersized Gaels squad—which boasts nobody measuring more than six feet tall—matched up against the powerful Carleton Ravens and shot their way to a 56-50 win on Feb. 18 to advance in the single-elimination game.
“We actually run very similar stuff [to Carleton] offensively,” said head coach Dave Wilson. “Each team runs the pick-and-roll, and tries to find good ways to defend it. It was a game of cat and mouse.”
Wilson said he was pleased with the way the Gaels were able to adjust to the shifting approaches and gain the upper hand.
“It was a game played more of strategy,” he said. “We ended up executing a little better—ultimately it comes down to making shots.”
Queen’s did exactly that down the stretch. In the final minute, the game was tied 50-50. Sarah Barnes then scored five of the Gaels’ next six points—netting a three-pointer and two free throws—to ice the game. As a measure of how close a contest it was, the two teams were also tied 25-25 at the half, exactly half the point total of the final-minute deadlock.
Although Barnes was the hero at the end, other Gaels had stepped up earlier to give her the opportunity to shine late in the game. Jessica Selinger and Claire Meadows led the way with 15 and 14 points respectively.
Four days later the Gaels were back on the court to face U of T, the highest-scoring team in Ontario. With Queen’s near the bottom in points scored, the game could easily have been decided by defence and ball control, both of which Wilson said he felt were of particular importance.
Despite acquitting themselves well, however, the Gaels came up short, losing a nail-biter 54-52.
“I thought we played one of our better games of the year,” Wilson said. “We only committed nine turnovers, which is one of our lowest totals for the year.”
In the end, size may have made the difference as loose ball opportunities tended to go Toronto’s way throughout the game.
“We had difficulty with their size, with players who are 6’2” and 6’3” up front, and us all under six feet,” Wilson said. “When it came to the tipped balls around the hoop, they got the tips, and that led to some easy points they weren’t able to get against our set defence.”
Despite the loss, Wilson said he is proud of what the team accomplished, and said they exceeded expectations.
“We did quite well. We’re a relatively young, inexperienced, small team with great leadership,” he said. “This is a team that learned more about the game than most teams I’ve worked with. It’s a very smart group of players able to adapt to a variety of situations. We overachieved a bit.”
Wilson also said he expects to be a strong contender for the Ontario crown next year as he doesn’t anticipate losing any players to graduation. That means the leadership core of the team, which he said is led by Meadows, will likely be back.
“We’re always looking at trying to improve our roster,” he said. “[But] this is a great group of people to work with—it was a lot of fun.”
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