NEWS: OUA releases women’s basketball schedule, Gee-Gees open at home

The Gee-Gees women's basketball players will be looking forward to a little more variety in 2022-23.

The OUA released their women's basketball schedule Wednesday afternoon. It sees the Gee-Gees play a 22-game regular season circuit, with 11 of the games being played at Montpetit Hall at the University of Ottawa.

As a COVID-19 precaution in 2021-22, a lion's share of the Ottawa schedule featured back-to-backs exclusively against OUA East opponents as a conference-mandated COVID-19 measure. This season the Gee-Gees will enjoy a much more varied sequence of games against schools from across Ontario.

Ottawa opens the season against the McMaster Marauders on Friday, Nov. 4. Tipoff is slated for 6:00 p.m. at Montpetit Hall, and will represent the first game for head coach Rose-Anne Joly since she had the interim tag removed from her title in May 2022.

Tickets for all Gee-Gees women's basketball home games are available for purchase at tickets.geegees.ca.

The York Lions will be in town the next night for another 6:00 p.m. tip.

The Gee-Gees longest road trip of the season (the longest for any program in the OUA, in fact) will send them to Thunder Bay to face the Lakehead Thunderwolves on Friday, Nov. 18.

A stiff test awaits Ottawa in their final weekend before the holiday break. Algoma will voyage down from Sault Ste. Marie on Dec. 2, in what will be the first matchup between the two teams since the Thunderbirds shocked Ottawa in overtime November 2019. The Gee-Gees then head to Brock to face the reigning OUA finalists, who went 12-0 in the 2021-22 regular season. The Badgers are in the OUA West, so Ottawa didn't face the St. Catharines, Ont.-based institution last year.

Two matchups with the Carleton Ravens are slated for the second half of the season, including the Capital Hoops Classic at TD Place on Friday, Feb. 3. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. Ottawa will then renew hostilities two weeks later at Carleton for the annual Bytown Battle. The Ravens and Gee-Gees halved their regular season series in 2021-22, before Carleton topped Ottawa in the postseason.

The 2022-23 OUA playoffs get started on Feb. 23, culminating in the Critelli Cup on Saturday, Mar. 4. Cape Breton University is hosting the 2023 U SPORTS Women's Basketball National Championship at Sullivan Field House in Cape Breton, N.S.

2022-23 Gee-Gees Women's Basketball Schedule

Nov. 4 vs. McMaster (Home Opener)

Nov. 5 vs. York

Nov. 11 at Laurentian

Nov. 12 at Nipissing

Nov. 18 at Lakehead

Nov. 25 vs. Western

Nov. 26 vs. Windsor

Dec. 2 vs. Algoma

Dec. 4 at Brock

Jan. 6 vs. Laurier

Jan. 7 vs. Waterloo

Jan. 14 at Ontario Tech

Jan. 15 at Guelph

Jan. 20 vs. TMU

Jan. 21 vs. Toronto

Jan. 27 vs. Ontario Tech

Jan. 29 vs. Queen's

Feb. 3 vs. Carleton at TD Place (Capital Hoops Classic)

Feb. 5 at Queen's

Feb. 10 vs. Nipissing

Feb. 11 vs. Laurentian

Feb. 15 at Carleton (Bytown Battle)