At 6 p.m. on February 2, 2018, when the referee tossed the ball and play began between the Carleton Ravens women’s basketball team and arch rivals the Ottawa Gee-Gees, groups of die-hard fans were dotted about the 18,000-seat Canadian Tire Centre.
It was the night of the Capital Hoops Classic, a major fixture on Carleton’s calendar, and an invitation to feel the pride, wear your colours (black and red, if you wanted to be on the winning side), and have some fun. More than 8,500 tickets had been sold for the double header— women at 6 p.m., men at 8 p.m. as usual — but by game time, just a couple hundred spectators had arrived.
After a fast start for the Ravens, the play tightened up. The women pounded up and down the court while spectators trickled in. As the Ravens made decisive gains in the final quarter, the seats in the lowest tier were filling up, and by the time the game ended with a score of 57-41, the Ravens clocking their 19th win of the season—and breaking the record for the most inter-conference wins in a row for women’s basketball—a party atmosphere was fizzing in the stands.
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