The Sacred Heart School Crusaders Grade 7/8 girls basketball team won the 2016 city championship at home on Friday night by holding off a late surging Spruce Ridge School Cougars squad for a 31-28 title game win.
Kaitlyne Graham, coach of the Crusaders, said her team worked hard for the victory matching the skill and determination of the top-ranked Cougars who’ve beaten them on previous occasions this season. She said the girls played tall and used the home court to their advantage through an understanding of where each player tends to go and what the best ways are to sink baskets.
The Crusaders started off the game strong with Marci LeBlanc stealing the ball in mid-court and driving it in for a layup, but the Cougars’ Jennica Memory got that basket back shortly afterwards with an offensive rebound and shot off the backboard and in. Sacred Heart scored the next six points only to have Spruce Ridge battle back to make the score 10-6 Crusaders after one quarter.
Memory helped the Cougars complete the comeback early in the second quarter on another strong play under the Crusaders’ basket, but then Sacred Heart’s offense found their groove bringing the score to 21-14 in their favour at halftime.
The Cougars and Crusaders engaged in a defensive battle in the third quarter with each team stopping their opponent’s rushes helping Sacred Heart take a 25-20 lead heading into the final period. Spruce Ridge’s Shanelle Rioux and Sacred Heart’s Taeghen Hack each drove to the basket scoring points for their side while also helping out in the defensive end in a back-and-forth opening to the quarter. The Crusaders then got into foul trouble enabling the Cougars to bring the score to within three with a minute to go in the game, but they couldn’t bury the equalizer.
“It came down to shooting,” said Cougars coach Tamara Franklin, whose team meets Sacred Heart first thing Thursday morning at Spruce Ridge School in the district championships. “Sacred Heart knew this was their home gym and they definitely knew how to shoot and that’s really all that counted. Both teams played hard defense, both teams set up plays with their offence quite well, but the team that makes the shots wins the game.”
Graham said her team competed in two tight round-robin games against the Pleasantdale Bulldogs and St. Mary’s Monarchs on Thursday at Sacred Heart to gain a semi-final berth, where they defeated the Westview Wildcats 24-21 right before the championship game to earn the title shot. She said coming out on top in the city championship final against Spruce Ridge despite the recent history between the clubs should help her team excel at the upcoming district tournament.
“It’s prepared us to see that we can actually beat them,” said Graham. “I know the confidence is now up for the girls, which is great because we lost pretty good (to them) last time. The girls are pumped and we’ll practise hard this week and we’ll be ready to go.”
