EDEN EVENS THE SCORE WITH SAINT MICHAEL
Eden evens the score one week after being eliminated by St. Mike’s at Standard tourney
Rachel Frena of the Eden Flyers and Anne Ibey of the Saint Michael Mustangs fight for the ball during the 14th Tribune Girls Basketball Tournament at E.L. Crossley Secondary School in Fonthill on Wednesday.
Day 1 is in the books and there were no upsets on the scoreboard when the 14th Tribune Girls Basketball Tournament tipped off at three high schools in south Niagara.
Top seeds lived up to their billing by winning their qualifying-round games and advancing to the quarterfinals on the championship side of the bracket.
A tripleheader at Jean Vanier began with the host Lynx, the defending overall champions and the No. 5 seed in the field of 16, defeating the Lakeshore Catholic Gators 43-25.
In the second game at Vanier, the top-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish topped the Governor Simcoe Redcoats 53-24.
Following that were Niagara’s newest high school team, the fourth-seeded Greater Fort Erie Gryphons taking care of business by sending the Port Colborne Blue Bears into hibernation — at least on the championship side of the bracket — with a 4122 victory.
There also were three games at Welland Centennial, where the second-seeded A.N. Myer Marauders beat the Saint Paul Patriots 42-25 in a battle for Niagara Falls basketball bragging rights.
Action at Centennial tipped off with the Cougars using home-court advantage with a 55-39 victory over the Grimsby Eagles.
At E.L. Crossley, the home side didn’t fare as well with the Cyclone dropping a 61-46 decision to the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs.
In Wednesday’s second game at Crossley, the third-seeded Eden Flyers corralled the Saint Michael Mustangs 53-50 avenging a loss to Saint Michael in the first elimination round exactly a week ago at the Standard Girls Basketball Tournament in St. Catharines.
Beth de Boer, Eden’s player of the game after netting a team-high 16 points, said the Flyers were still feeling the sting of that disappointing loss when they took the court against the Mustangs in Wednesday’s rematch.
“We all came in, we were pumped up, but we had a better attitude this time around,” she said. “We knew how to play it.”
The Grade 11 student said the Flyers learned a lot from last week’s loss to Saint Michael.
“There are the two twins, the Ibey twins, you’ve got to give them credit, they are really good,” de Boer said. “We know that they are really aggressive and we have to play really hard defence around them.”
This time out Eden was more patient when it had possession under the basket.
“This time we did better on our shot selection.”
Carlee Ibey, Saint Michael’s player of the game, said the Mustangs played a “good game” despite the loss.
“It was back-and-forth at the end, but what are you going to do?” she said. “In the end, they just hit more (shots) than us.”