Lancers top Renegades — remain perfect at 7-0
Mayer driving force in Elmira school’s bid for first WCSSAA hoops title
KITCHENER — Natalie Mayer knows the history.
The Elmira Lancers standout is aware that teams from her high school — boys and girls, juniors and seniors — have never won a Waterloo County Secondary School Athletic Association (WCSSAA) basketball championship.
Her teammates probably know it as well, said Mayer, although it’s a topic that rarely comes up in a conversation. The girls simply go about their business, enjoy the company of each other, play to the best of their abilities and hope it will be good enough to lead them on a successful playoff run.
“We’re here to win, but we’re also here to have fun and play a sport that we all love,” said Mayer, a former club player with the K-W Lightning and K-W Vipers.
“We’re playing really well right now, but we’ll take it one game at a time and see what happens.”
The Lancers continued their torrid start to the current WCSSAA campaign Tuesday with a 40-23 victory over the Grand River Renegades. Mayer topped all scorers with 24 points and is clearly the offensive focal point of an Elmira squad that improved to 7-0 in the standings. She has topped her team in scoring for six of the wins and didn’t play in the seventh, a 22-18 win over the Cameron Heights Golden Gaels.
Samantha Martin and Jackie Wideman are the other key players on an Elmira squad that will face a stiffer challenge Thursday when it hosts the Waterloo-Oxford Crusaders. The defending champions are 6-1 after Tuesday’s 47-36 win over the Bluevale Knights and carry a six-game win streak into the Battle of the Barns showdown.
Mayer scored seven first-half points as the Lancers headed into the break with a 14-9 lead. The Renegades were at their defensive best in the low-scoring second quarter, in which Grand River outscored the visitors 3-1.
The Lancers went on a 12-3 run to open the second half, with Mayer accounting for 10 of those points, and the Renegades were unable to recover. The majority of Mayer’s points came from her willingness to play it rough in the paint.
“My mom says I’ll need knee surgery when I get older because I don’t wear knee pads, but it’s all worth it,” she said. “I enjoy playing that way, rough and tumble.”
Jenna Crawford scored nine points for the Renegades, who received a strong defensive performance from Kayla Ambrose.
The Renegades (3-4) continue their schedule Thursday against the Galt Ghosts and Ambrose is hopeful the girls can catch lightning in a bottle as the regular-season draws to a close.
“We need to step it up a bit and play like we’re capable of playing,” said Ambrose, a standout soccer player. “We should be able to win a few and be close in every game.”
The Sir John A. Macdonald Highlanders are also 7-0 following Tuesday’s slate of games, with the KCI Raiders next at 6-1.