EAGLES CONTINUE TO SOAR WITH DEFENCE

By Rob J. Ross

AYLMER, Ont. - The East Elgin Eagles' defence was displayed in full flight.

Throughout the regular season, the Eagles' senior girls' basketball team never allowed more than 30 points, silencing opponents on their way to a 9-0 record, in the Thames Valley Region South division.

Today, the Eagles thrilled a home crowd in the TVRA South East semi-final, defeating the Central Elgin Titans, 38-18.

"Our strength of the team has been our senior play. We have three kids (Amanda Milmine, Kendra Cornelissen, Kendra Horlick) who have been in the program (since Grade nine). They've been through it all," Eagles coach Sean Beilhartz said. "They've all played high level basketball with their OBA (Ontario Basketball Association) teams" It makes our (Eagles' coaches) job easier.

"They set the tone."

Beilhartz describes point guard Horlick, as in a league of her own in this area.

The Eagles' aggressive defence caused headaches, creating multiple turnovers, against the Titans.

"It's fun for them to play that style of basketball," Beilhartz said of his team. "They like to run and gun when they can, or pick up the intensity on defence and jump on the opposition. They thrive on that."

Something not lost on Titans' coach Shawn Manuel.

"We couldn't keep up with their transition and aggressive rebounding," Manuel said. "We shot very poorly, but hustled and worked hard right to the end."

While the Eagles top trio led throughout the season, another trio, only in Grade 11, developed into their own and showed flashes of their improvement, against the Titans.

"I really liked what I saw from point guard Brandy Aspden.  She came in and played very well. She was really impressive running the offence and was a lock down defender," praised Beilhartz. "Tori Kuhn had her strongest game of the year. She fed off of the perimeter, slashed the key and had some really nice lay-ups in the fourth quarter."