Queen's vs. Carleton January 25, 2008

Gaels Come From Behind To Defeat Carleton 69-64
by Queen's University Sports information Office

The Queen's Golden Gaels staged a furious fourth quarter comeback in defeating the visiting Carleton Ravens 69-64 Friday night in Kingston. The Gaels trailed after three quarters 57-45 and 59-47 a minute and a half into the fourth before going on a 22-5 run the rest of the way.

The Ravens were the dominant team to start the game scoring ten of the first 12 points and leading 22-4 with two minutes left in the opening quarter. The Gaels closed the quarter with five straight free throws and a layup from Teddi Firmi of Kitchener, Ont. to make the score 22-11 heading into the second.

In the second stanza Queen's opened with the first four points before Carleton went on an 8-2 run for three minutes to lead 30-17. The Ravens built their advantage to 37-25 after two free throws with 2:03 remaining in the half and went into the intermission ahead 39-31.

To start the second half the Ravens were again the sharper team leading 51-34 midway through the third quarter after a three point play by Kelly Lyons of Brights Grove, Ont. The Gaels, behind two layups from Firmi, controlled the last five minutes but could only close to 12 by the end of the quarter.

The final quarter began with the Gaels and Ravens exchanging baskets to make the score 59-49 with eight minutes left. Queen's then got rolling as Anne Murphy of Milford, Ont. hit a layup, followed by a Firmi layup, a basket from Christine Wallace of North Gower, Ont. and a three point shot from Sarah Barnes of St. Catharines, Ont. to make it 59-56 with 6:35 remaining.

The Gaels started their final push for the victory with 3:50 left on a steal and break away layup by Maddie Soye of Kitchener, a Firmi layup and when Firmi passed to Brittany Moore of Hannon, Ont. for a layup the Tricolour was within one point with two minutes left.

Barnes hit a layup with 1:10 remaining to give the Gaels their first lead of the game at 64-63. Then the key play happened 26 seconds later when with six on the shot clock, the Gaels inbounded the ball under the Carleton basket to Moore who hit a three point shot to give Queen's a four point lead. Carleton was called for travel six seconds later and the Gaels clinched the victory from the foul line.

Barnes said the fourth quarter comeback was keyed by their team defence "People stepped up and everybody contributed and that was critical". Firmi added that no one player got emotional with the team trailing. "Everybody is trying to be really positive on the bench so then we are able to come together as a team and that is where the motivation comes from.".

The win improves the Gaels to 6-10 and keeps them in fourth place of the OUA East while Carleton falls to 3-13 staying in sixth.

Queen's is home next Tuesday, January 29th when they entertain the Ottawa Gee Gees at 6pm in the Bartlett Gym.