Fastest company
A.N. Myer uses speed to dethrone defending Standard Tournament champion Jean Vanier
More than a berth in the championship semifinals at the 18th annual Standard Girls Basketball Tournament will be on the line when the A.N. Myer Marauders step on the court tonight in St. Catharines.
As an added bonus the Marauders, the top seed at the four-day, 16-team tournament, will get to settle another score much closer to home.
And it doesn’t get any closer to home for Myer than battling the Saint Michael Mustangs for Niagara Falls basketball bragging rights.
In elimination-round action Wednesday at Governor Simcoe Secondary School, the Marauders dethroned the defending champion Jean Vanier Lynx 48-37, while the Mustangs held up their end of the bargain by beating the Eden Flyers 46-32.
Tori Rigas-DiDomenico, who led Myer with a game-high 17 points, said the fast-tempo Marauders are looking forward to the challenge of outrunning the Mustangs.
“I think it’s good competition,” she said. “It’s good to see other schools from our area.”
Rigas-DiDomenico felt the Marauders had a target on their backs as the No. 1 seed.
“All the other teams are looking to beat us, but I think we are holding our own here,” said the Grade 12 student who is competing in her second Standard Tournament.
Rather than regarding top billing as a millstone that could only drag them down, Rigas-DiDomenico and her teammates are using the seeding as an added incentive.
“It motivates us to stay at that No. 1 spot.”
She said Myer came into the tournament with the same goal it has had since the outset of the season and will have until the final game of the playoffs.
“Our goal always is to work hard, go out there and do our best,” she said. “Work together as a team.
“Our goal is always to get as far as we can and push.”
Myer beat Vanier for the second time in three days. On Monday, in a league game, the Marauders edged the Lynx by two points at the buzzer.
“We knew we had to play fast, we knew we had to push the ball.”
Despite the margin of victory, Vanier assistant coach Tricia Poulin said the Lynx kept pace with the Marauders every step of the way in Wednesday’s rematch.
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“They know they can keep up with some of the best in the region,” she said. “Coming in, and knowing your ranked eighth, playing No. 1, and you know you can keep up with them.
“These girls now know they can continue their season knowing they can keep up with the best.”
Only “some mistakes, some silly turnovers that led to easy baskets on that side” were the difference between going on and going home for the Lynx.
“They just didn’t get their shots off,” Poulin said. “I think we outshot them tonight, I don’t know if we necessarily outplayed them, but we’ve got some kinks to work out.
“To us, a season is a marathon and not a short little race, so this is part of our process.
“We want to meet up with triple A schools like this, so that we can only get better.”
Julia McPhail, with 15 points, and Isabelle Sinclair, 10, scored in double digits for Vanier.
With the loss, it is guaranteed there will be no repeat winner when the tournament wraps up Friday night at Simcoe.
The Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs, the reigning consolation champs, defeated the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons in Tuesday’s qualifying round to advance to the A side of the bracket.
At Sir Winston Churchill, home court was a Bulldogs’ best friend as Churchill defeated St. Francis to advance to the championship semifinals at the Standard Girls Basketball Tournament.
Also helping ensure that the Phoenix would not rise from the ashes, at least not this week, were 22 points from Janee Harrison and 17 from Kaley Dumont.
Erin Giroux led St. Francis in scoring with 14 points.
Tipoffs for today’s Blessed Trinity-Churchill and Myer-Saint Michael championship semifinals at Simcoe are 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. respectively.