Bulldogs, Reds stay in winners circle
Different date and dateline, different newspaper, but exactly the same headline.
It was almost déjà vu all over again when the Tribune Girls Basketball Tournament wrapped up Saturday in Welland.
As was the case on the final night of the Standard Tournament eight days earlier in St. Catharines, the silver medallist from the year before won it all this time around.
And, just like the Standard Tournament, the high school showcase in south Niagara ended with the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs defeating the Eden Flyers for the gold medal.
Again, a Bulldog added to her first-team, all-star honours by being selected as the tournament’s most valuable player.
In the consolation game, the Denis Morris Reds emerged victorious just as they did at — yes, you guessed it — the Standard Tournament by beating a team from Niagara Falls in the B final.
Only difference was in the cast making up the final four. Saturday night at Notre Dame College School, the Reds defeated the Saint Michael Mustangs; at the Standard tourney, they beat the
Saint Paul Patriots.
This year’s Tribune Tournament wasn’t completely devoid of new news. For the first time in the tournament’s 14-year history, none of the four teams in the finals were from the Welland, Port Colborne and Pelham circulation areas covered by The Tribune.
“It was redo of last week, and I told them they (Eden) were going to be hungry again,” Churchill head coach Frank Keltos said after his 65-42 victory in the goldmedal game.
Remarkably, the Bulldogs didn’t score until 6:19 into the first quarter, but they didn’t take long to make up for lost time.
They took a 12-11 lead into the second quarter and were up 43-35 heading into the final quarter.
Dogged determination to stick to the game plan produced the desired result as Churchill improved to 2-1 against Eden this season.
“We just kept coming at them and tiring them and tiring them,” he said. “I said, ‘Keep running what we do, just keep putting pressure on them.’
“We played our game, we pressed when we needed to press, we changed it up defensively from out different presses.”
Ally Sentance led Churchill in scoring with a game-high 17 points. Kaley DeMont added 16 on her way to being named tournament MVP and Olivia Krieger contributed 13 in the win.
Churchill took the court knowing the Flyers would be going all out to avenge their loss to the Bulldogs in the Standard tourney final.
“We took into account that they were going to want to beat us even more, and they’re going to come harder,” DeMont said. “So we had to bring it.”
She was surprised to be singled out as the tournament’s top player.
“All my teammates are really good — Ally, Olivia, Raegan (Emonds) — so I’m really grateful
to be able to take that.”
DeMont said back-to-back tournament championships will give the Bulldogs confidence moving forward.
“We have to play Eden again in league play and, if we make that, we go on to SOSSA (Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association championships).”
After beating Churchill at the Saint Francis tournament, the Flyers again came up short against the Bulldogs.
“They showed us tonight that their offensive execution was very crisp,” Eden head coach Brian MacIsaac said. “We’ve got some work to do there.
“We had our opportunities, and I give all my girls a lot of credit for the effort they put it.”
Eden went on a nice run to start the second half and tied the game at 25-25 before Churchill took charge running the pick-and-roll.
“We just didn’t defend it like we need to, so we’ve got some work to do.”
Madalyn Weinert and Beth DeBoer led Eden with 15 and 14 points, respectively.
Reds 62, Mustangs 51
Before the final buzzer sounded in Denis Morris’s victory over Saint Michael in the consolation championship, the Bell tolled. Again and again and again. In all, eight times: five from behind the three-point arc, three in the paint.
Lexxus Bell paced the Reds with 21 points, all but three of them scored in a torrid opening quarter that saw Denis Morris jumped out to a 25-13 lead.
“When I’m on with my shooting I tend to stay that way,” said the Grade 11 student, who was named her team’s player of the game and made the first all-star team.
Denis Morris is in the first place when it comes to making the most of second chances. At the Standard, the Reds rebounded from a qualifying-round loss by going 3-0, and at the Trib tourney they took the B title after their name was picked in a draw for a wild-card entry.
In a 16-team tournament, losers in the championship quarterfinals are eliminated. With this year’s Tribune Tournament fielding 14 teams, an extra team was needed to complete the final four on the B side of the bracket.
“It worked out very well for us, we won the wild card and we made the most of it,” head coach Stefanie DeMizio said. “Now, we take a little break, we’ve played 10 games in the last 13 days.”
She was pleased with how well her players worked together against Saint Michael.
“We passed the ball well, we worked the shot clock, which was our goal, and we played some really good defence when we needed to.”
DeMizio said hitting five threepointers in the first quarter wasn’t part of the game plan, “but, boy, did that help.
“Lexxus was on her game at the start and that really gave the other girls the confidence they needed to push and to win.”
Jordyn Britton and Rayshell Nyamekye contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively, as Denis Morris won its second Tribune Tournament consolation championship and first since 2015.
Lauren Carter, 21; Julie Manlow, 12; and Aliyah Glaze, 10; topped the Mustangs in scoring.
Saint Michael went 2-2 after going two and out at the Standard tourney.
“I’m definitely not disappointed with what I saw out there today,” head coach Ron Bobyk said. “They worked hard, they tried their best, that’s all you can expect.”