KINGSTON, Ont. (March 1, 2014) - The No. 10 Queen's women's basketball team claimed the title of OUA East champions and a place at the CIS National Championships. The Gaels defeated the Carleton Ravens 62-58 in a thrilling overtime victory in front of a packed house of 802 at the Athletics and Recreation Centre on Saturday night in Kingston.
 
The key from the beginning of the game was that it was going to be a battle of the boards because Queen's and Carleton have been known for their ability to crash the glass all season long. This proved pivotal as both teams struggled to find the bottom of the net early on, with Queen's only leading 12-9 at the end of the first quarter.
 
At the half, the score was stuck at a mere 26-25 in favour of the Gaels, but that was not reflective of the effort being put forth on both ends of the court by both teams. To say the game was aggressive would be an understatement. The on-ball pressure was relentless. Elizabeth Roach of Carleton led all scorers at the half with 16 points, hitting, back-to-back threes early in the second. Jenny Wright (Kingston, Ont.) was able to navigate around the defensive pressure to tally 11 points by half.
 
Three point shooting woes continued for the Gaels throughout the third and fourth quarters, but defensive solidarity and offensive execution at important moments gave Queen's the lead down the stretch of the fourth. A turning point in the final minutes of regulation was when Wright grabbed an offensive rebound off of a free-throw and finished for two tying the game up.

Queen's led 48-45 with four seconds left, just after Liz Boag (Kingston, Ont.) went 1-2 from the line. After two consecutive attempts to inbound the ball and having Queen's knock it out of bounds, Carleton secured it inbounds and McKenzie Sigurdson drained a deep three with 0.4 seconds left on the clock to force overtime.
 
Roach opened up the extra quarter with a back-door layup for the Ravens, quickly followed by a lay-in by Wright at the other end. The teams continued to exchange points while maintaining their suffocating defensive pressure. With under a minute to go, Roach hit one of her two from the free-throw line to tie the game at 55. The gym was deafening with an ecstatic standing crowd, cheering on the Queen's women in unison, with the octaves increasing with the seconds winding down.
 
Queen's had a 3-point lead with less than 30 seconds on the clock. After being beat one-on-one by the fifth year Roach only a few possessions earlier, Emily Hazlett (Fredericton, N.B.) of Queen's found herself in the exact same defensive situation with 20 seconds left. Without hesitation, the second year defensive dynamo lunged and stole the basketball, connecting for two at the other end and putting the Gaels up by five. The Raven's did not let down as Lindsay Shotbolt responded with a three-pointer with only nine seconds remaining. The Raven's needed to foul and sent Meaghan MacDougall (Martintown, Ont.) to the line. She hit both free-throws to put Queen's up 62-58 to seal the win.

"I give a lot of credit to the team, our players never quit. They just went out there and played hard and did the things that we really wanted to do against Carleton and I couldn't be more proud," said head coach Dave Wilson after the win. "I know the crowd support means a lot to the players because that gets them energized and it really is a sixth person on the floor. Our fans have been great all year long and I'm really glad we could reward them with a win."

Wright led the Gaels with 18 points, followed by Boag who added 15. Roach of the Ravens led all scorers with 27 points, and Shotbolt finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

The Gaels will advance to the OUA Championship next Saturday when they take on the Windsor Lancers in Windsor who beat Laurier 86-58. This will mark the first trip to the OUA final for Queen's since 2002-03 when they lost to McMaster 46-45. The Gaels last OUA title came in 2000-01 when they beat McMaster 73-63 and went on to finish fourth at CIS Nationals.

With the win Queen's also automatically qualifies for the CIS Championship March 14-16 hosted by Windsor. This will also mark their first CIS national appearance since 2002-03.