Queen's Gaels look to earn place among U Sports' best at women's basketball Final 8

The Queen's Gaels look to take another big step in earning their place among the elite of U Sports women's basketball.

Queen's enters the Final 8 championship as the third seed after they posted a 21-1 regular season before a loss to the Carleton Ravens in the Ontario University Athletics title game last Saturday. The Gaels hosted last season's nationals and earned a bronze medal as the seventh seed.

"Last year we believed that we belonged at nationals and then obviously with our performance we proved that we belong there," said Gaels head coach Claire Meadows. "And so I think that gave us a lot of motivation and a lot of confidence moving forward into this season to obviously get back to the tournament and be able to carry on the season that we've had so far.

"Hosting nationals last year was really eye-opening (in) that we're a team that can participate and compete at that level, and so I think the approach to this year was to really work toward that goal and being in the OUA finals," added OUA first-team all-star forward Julia Chadwick.

The top-ranked Ravens, who finished the regular season 19-3 before claiming their first OUA title since 2018, have been the lone team to hand the Gaels a loss this year.

Carleton defeated Queen's 64-32 in regular-season action on Jan. 27 and then 70-57 to claim the Critelli Cup.

Queen's, which opens the tournament Thursday against sixth-seeded RSEQ champion UQAM Citadins, feels ready and prepared for the road ahead in Sydney, N.S.

"Nothing changes in terms of how we approach the game and our preparation. It's another game within this season," said Meadows who was named OUA coach of the year on March 1. "I think when you get to this point in the season, every team is competitive. Every