REDS TOO FAR FROM REACH FOR RAIDERS
Come-from-behind win sends Churchill into Standard Tournament final against A.N. Myer
Lexxus Bell of the Denis Morris Reds tries to keep the ball away from the Holy Cross Raiders during Standard Girls Basketball Tournament semifinal action at Governor Simcoe in St. Catharines on Thursday. Denis Morris won a clear 43-18 victory over the Raiders, to advance to the consolation championship tonight against the Grimsby Eagles, which knocked out the E.L. Crossley Cyclone Thursday in a game ending 43-37.
A lightbulb moment for the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs at the 18th Standard Girls Basketball Tournament turned the lights off for the Blessed Trinity Thunder.
Churchill finally executed an outof-bounds play to perfection, and it could not have come at a worse time for Blessed Trinity.
With Thursday night’s championship semifinal at Governor Simcoe Secondary School deadlocked at 51-51 with four seconds remaining in regulation, the Bulldogs got the ball to Janee Harrison, who promptly put an exclamation point on the play to perfection by netting the game-winning basket.
“They set a screen on me,” she recalled moments later. “I rolled around and I got the basket.”
It was only fitting that Harrison was the one who got the chance to be the hero — for the second time in a little more than six seconds no less.
After all, it was the Grade 9 student’s intercepted pass at midcourt that brought the ball back to Churchill’s end of the court in the first place.
To Harrison, the game felt much closer than the score.
“It was really intense, they’re really good at defence and all-around play,” she said of the Thunder. “They have a lot of travel players, but so do we.”
There’s a strong possibility the Bulldogs will remember the pivotal play that led to the last basket long after the four-day, 16-tournament wraps up and ink dries on the final scoresheet.
“I said to the girls after we made the out-of-bounds play for the win, ‘Look what happens when we execute,’” Keltos said. “They all just cheered.
“The lightbulb turned on and I’m buying into what you are saying.”
What can the Bulldogs do for an encore after stealing Blessed Trinity’s thunder in the heartbreaking loss?
“You don’t top that, those are one-in-a-year games,” he said. “I think I told you before the game that this game was going to be upand-down, it was going to be exciting, and it was going to be fun.
“And the two teams didn’t disappoint you.”
Keltos wasn’t surprised at the intensity that Blessed Trinity, which is coached by his longtime rival John DiPasquale, brought to the court.
“Not at all,” Keltos said. “I’ve been coaching against John maybe 12, 15 years and we’ve had battles.
“He’s beaten me probably more times than I’ve beaten him.”
Keltos, whose Bulldogs captured the consolation championship at last year’s tournament, isn’t worried about Churchill suffering a letdown following last night’s nailbiter.
“Everything after this is gravy,” he said.
“We made it to the final, and I finished the game with three Grade 9s.
“We made it, the excitement’s there, we’ll see what happens.”
Kaley DeMont, with 20 points; Harrison, nine; Olivia Kreiger, eight; Ally Sentance, seven; Raegan Emond, four; Natalie Weber; three; and Lauren Vanecko, two; scored for Churchill, which trailed the game 28-23 at halftime.
Mia DiPasquale, Makalya Giddings, 13 apiece; Ella Murara, 12; Nicole Beech, six; Kar Shields, three; Liv Gaspich and Maddie O’Brien, two; provided the offence for Blessed Trinity.
With the come-from-behind victory, Churchill advances to play the A.N. Myer Marauders in today’s championship final at Simcoe, where tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
Top-seeded Myer lived up to its No. 1 billing by defeating the Saint Michael Mustangs 64-51 in the other semifinal on the A side of the bracket.
In today’s consolation championship tipping off at 6 p.m., also at Simcoe, it will be the Denis Morris Reds taking on the Grimsby Eagles.
Denis Morris qualified by defeating the Holy Cross Raiders 43-18 and Grimsby dispatched the E.L. Crossley Cyclone to the sidelines with a 43-37 win.
With defending overall champion Vanier eliminated by Myer in the quarter-finals and with Churchill qualifying on the A side, there will not be a repeat champion at this year’s tournament.