On-court excitement goes into extra time
DM, Crossley on to championship quarter-finals
Two teams needed overtime to advance to the second round of the Tribune Girls Basketball Tournament taking place this week at high schools in Port Colborne and Welland.
Jordyn Britton was named player of the game for Denis Morris for her contributions leading the Reds to a 56-52 victory over the host Welland Centennial Cougars in qualifying-round action Wednesday.
Denis Morris, which won the consolation championship at the Standard Girls High School Basketball Tournament last week in St. Catharines, returns to the court to play the No. 1 seed Eden Flyers in a 2 p.m. tipoff Thursday at Centennial.
Eden received a first-round bye at the 14-team tournament as did the second-seeded Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs.
Unlike the Cougars, who lost the buyout game on their home court despite the best efforts of Centennial player of the game Sarah Stayzer, the E.L. Crossley Cyclone were the happiest of hosts playing the Saint Michael Mustangs before a packed gym in Pelham.
Taryn Mitchell netted 16 points and teammate Sydney Grummet 13 as Crossley beat the Mustangs 55-51 in overtime to advance to the A side of the bracket at a high school tournament for the second time in as many weeks.
Player of the game honours went to Mitchell and Saint Michael’s Aliyah Glaze, who led all scorers with 27 points, 24 from beyond the three-point arc.
Julie Manlow also reached in double digits for the Mustangs netting 16 points.
In quarter-final action Thursday, Crossley will face the A.N. Myer Marauders on the A side
and Saint Michael will play the Port Colborne Blue Bears on the consolation side.
Myer beat the Ridley College Tigers 59-14 and Port High lost to the Lakeshore Catholic Gators 53-58 in their opening-round games.
Also qualifying for the championship quarter-finals were the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons, 70-28 victors over the Saint Paul Patriots, and the defending Tribune Tournament champion Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who beat the host Lynx 61-22 in a buyout game at Jean Vanier.
Gators 53, Blue Bears 28
Youth was served at Lakeshore where Grade 9 student Emma Koabel led the host Gators with a game-high 20 points in a whistleto-whistle win over crosstown rival Port Colborne.
Lakeshore jumped out to a 15-0 lead and the Blue Bears didn’t score their first points from the floor until 1:04 into the second quarter.
The 5-foot-8 travel basketball player with the Welland Warriors said playing against girls as many as four years older at the high school level is challenging.
“I’m playing against Grade 12s, maybe even 12 Bs, sometimes it’s a big size difference,” the 14-yearold said. “I’m a guard on the team, I’m not that small, but I’m still smaller than most girls.
“You have to find a way to get around the girls when you’re driving to the net and finding different alternatives instead of always going straight up.”
Fresh legs on Port High’s bench outnumbered the eight-member Gators by a wide margin, but Blue Bears head coach Barclay Walker knew his team would be in tough in the battle for Port Colborne bragging rights.
“This was not a big surprise even the depth and the talent that Lakeshore has,” he said. “We knew coming into that game Emma Koabel, being a provincial player, and some others, like Keri Lynn Jones and Logan Tworyczuk and Kiara LeBlanc, that we would have to work hard, especially to chase them off their outside shooting.”
Port High’s short-term goal is to advance to the consolation final Saturday night at Notre Dame College School in Welland. Long term is to use each game to develop into a team capable of making a deep playoff run.
“You come away from this and you see what parts of the game still needs to be worked on,” Walker said. “It’s like getting ready for the exam, if this was our practice exam, I know what I need to get ready for the real exam.”
Jones and LeBlanc scored 11 points apiece for Lakeshore.
Pacing Port High in points were Maddie Coleman and Jordyn Goins with seven each.
Koabel, Gators; and Jacobi Oskam, Blue Bears; each received a T-shirt as player of the game.
All players and coaches received a water bottle.
Marauders 59, Tigers 14
The road to redemption started in convincing fashion on the hardwood court for A.N. Myer.
Tori Rigas-DiDomenico earned player of the game and scored a game-high 20 points as the Marauders topped Ridley College and rebounded from a disappointing loss to Eden in the semifinals at Standard Tournament.
“I think losing is always a disappointment,” the Grade 12 student said. “We went into the game and since we were the defending champions, we wanted to get to the finals again.”
Myer is hoping to return to the Tribune Tournament gold-medal game for the first time 2011. In order to do that, the Marauders will need to maintain a fast pace on offence and moving the ball up the court as a team.
Mia Kidd led Ridley with seven points.