BULLDOGS HAND CYCLONE LOSS AT TRIB TOURNEY
Churchill puts points on the board, takes crowd out of game, in Day 1 win over Crossley
Hannah Nicholls of the E.L. Crossley Cyclone runs the ball up the court during the team’s game against the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs at E.L. Crossley during the Tribune Girls Basketball Tournament on Wednesday.
Sir Winston Churchill head coach Frank Keltos had two assignments for his team on opening day of the 14th Tribune Girls Basketball Tournament.
He wanted the Bulldogs to put points on the scoreboard, and he wanted the team to take a buyout crowd at E.L. Crossley Secondary School out of the game.
They accomplished both jobs. Led by Kaley Demont’s game-high 19 points, Churchill defeated the host Cyclone 61-46 in qualifyinground action Wednesday in Pelham.
Expect for the second quarter, when Crossley outscored the Bulldogs 20-10, the crowd wasn’t much of a factor as Churchill advanced to the championship side of the bracket at the four-day, 16-team tournament.
“They had a nice crowd here,” Keltos said. “They hit four of five threes in the second quarter to get back into the game.”
That’s as close as the Cyclone would get to sending the ’Dogs to the curb and relegating them to the B side of the bracket.
Churchill, which clung to a 3027 lead at the half after crusing into the second quarter up 20-7, began the final half with an eightpoint run to regain the momentum. Score after three quarters of play was 45-36 in favour of the Bulldogs.
“I said to them at half, ‘Enough being nice aand letting them have their home crowd, let’s play some good D, get a lead and go from there,’” Keltos said. “And they responded. “We hit some shots early and turned the ball over on them on four possessions in a row.
“That was kind of the ballgame.”
Churchill, which lost the championship final by two points to the A.N. Myer Marauders at the Standard Girls Basketball Tournament last week in St. Catharines, know all about the pressure of playing before a packed house on their home court. In their opening game at that tournament, the Bulldogs held on to defeat the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons by three points.