CIS CORNER: HOOPS GAELS GET HIGH PRAISE

Notes on our teams of interest in the 613...

THE HOOPS

• Gaels: This weekend provided more reason to be psyched — do the kids still say psyched? — about the parquet edition of the Tricolour. Concordia coach John Dore, whose team was the No. 1 seed last March at the CIS Final 8, had some high praise for the Gaels at cishoops.ca after his team pulled out an eight-point overtime win, saying Queen's executes as well as any team in the country.
  
  Gaels guard Simon Mitchell had 23 points today to go along with the 25 he put up Saturday in a 75-64 non-conference win over McGill. The Redmen were merely coming off a win in their home tournament where they averaged 95 points across three games.
  
  The Tricolour women split a pair of exhibition games in Cape Breton. Anne Murphy's 20 points and eight boards, plus Sarah Barnes making 5-of-5 threes for her 15 points, led the Tricolour to a 77-72 win in the first game on on Friday.
• Ravens: cishoops.ca has a more on Carleton's perfect win out in Victoria. Daron Leonard heats up so faster than most of the staple items in a single guy's kitchen cupboard. In the Ravens' 72-55 win over the Victoria Vikes, he had nine points during a decisive 12-2 run, finishing with a game-high 13.
  
  The Ravens women ended up second at their home tournament. Guard Tanya Perry put up 30 in a close-but-no-cigar loss to Laval in the final; Friday against UQAM, she had a near triple double (14 points, eight boards, six assists).
  
  Kelly Lyons, the second-most famous athlete ever to come from Bright's Grove, Ont., was the high scorer in Carleton's first two wins.
• Gee-Gees: Friday's big comeback spurred Ottawa to win their home tournament — they came from behind again on Sunday, beating Brock on a three-ball by Donnie Gibson with less than a second to play. Again, cishoops.ca is The Source on this; Dax Dessureault was tournament MVP, as the Gee-Gees came back from a double-digit deficit for the second time on the weekend. Coach Dave DeAveiro is taking his team to Edmonton for a tournament next weekend.
  
  Moriah Trowell got an all-star nod for the women's hoops Gee-Gees at Carleton's tournament. Trowell had 23 points in Sunday's overtime win over UQAM; she also put up 27 points in Friday's 64-63 win over Laval.

PLUS THE HOCKEY

• Ravens: Round 1 of the cross-town women's puck rivalry went to Carleton, who prevailed 3-2 in a shootout vs. the Gee-Gees on Sunday. Ravens rookie Erica Skinner scored with 6:46 left to send it to overtime, 29 seconds after the Gee-Gees had gone ahead.
  
  On the men's side, Carleton's yearlings split the weekend, losing 8-2 to Concordia on Saturday. The highlight was Friday's 3-2 shootout win on the road vs. McGill. Doug Jewer made 37 saves and Justin Caruana scored the equalizer with two minutes left before Mike Testa (who'd scored earlier) popped the winner.
• Gaels: There is a kick in the hockey pants -- Queen's gave up the tying goal with four seconds left in regulation Saturday night and ultimately lost 3-2 in a shootout to Guelph, leaving them with just a single point in the standings out of the weekend. Grant Horvath set up both goals; Brady Morrison, the ex-67, stopped 40-of-42 shots.
  
  Ryan Gibb had 27 saves in Friday's 4-0 loss to Brock. Winchester native Eric Toonders had two assists for the visiting Badgers.
  
  The women's team split on their road trip, winning 5-2 at Brock on Sunday.
  
• Gee-Gees: Sun Media's own Tim Baines had a good column Friday on the Ottawa Devils women's touch football team, who won a national championship recently. Two Gee-Gees hockey players Kim Kerr and Danika Smith (who scored Sunday) playing major roles; Kerr was the team's quarterback.

(This ultimately will get pared down to a digest in the weeks to come... 12 basketball and hockey teams across three university is a little too much for one man to follow -- that's why these schools have qualified SIDs, great guys, class acts, all of 'em.)