Two hoops teams on way to WOSSAA
St. Joe's handily wins District AA junior girls basketball final to keep season alive
while Dorchester wins South-East 1-A title on home court
November 11, 2022
By Rob J. Ross
LONDON, Ont. - A balanced offensive attack and stifling defence has led the St. Joseph's Rams on the path to WOSSAA.
The Rams handled the John Paul II Jaguars, 53-11, in the District junior girls basketball AA final, Thursday, at Fanshawe College.
"Our team worked really hard. We were really focused on not just winning, but running our plays," said Promise Atkinson, who led the Rams with 14 points. "We got ahead in the first quarter, like 15-2, and kept going."
Jay Oum scored 11 points, Emily Chapman, eight and Hailey Titchner, six.
On defence, Chapman had six steals, four rebounds and a blocked shot while Titchner had five steals and two rebounds.
"Our passes are strong and we've been getting better at our reads," said Oum. "They're (Jags) really fast and they cut a lot when they pass the ball. Sophia (DeSousa) read a lot of passes and cut in front of them and was really good on defence."
Now the Rams head to the Western Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association (WOSSAA) tournament, November 16, at St. Mike's high school, in Stratford.
In the Central division AAA junior girls' basketball final, the Medway Cowboys defeated the Parkside Stampeders, 57-44.
Beavers drop Red Devils
The Lord Dorchester Beavers dropped the Woodstock CI Red Devils, like actual
beavers chew down trees alongside a river.
Sydney Champion dropped 23 points leading the Dorchester Beavers over Woodstock CI Red Devils (WCI), 40-26, in the Thames Valley Regional Athltics (TVRA) 1-A senior girls basketball final, Thursday, at Lord Dorchester Secondary school.
"Great team defence. The team came with a focus on denying opportunities to their best scorers," Beavers coach Curt Pollard said. "Spent quite a bit of time working on press breaks and that led to some scoring opportunities."
The Beavers move to WOSSAA, at Gabriel-Dumont school, in London, Wednesday, November 16. Hopes are OFSAA, the provincial high school championships, this year in Walkerton.
"The last few senior girls teams had really good chances at competing at WOSSAA and OFSAA, but we of course lost those opportunities to COVID," Pollard said.
On Tuesday, at West Elgin Secondary school in West Lorne, the Beavers' junior boys volleyball team won the TVRA 1-A title.
Dorchester beat WCI, three games to one in the final, winning 25-17, 25-21, 16-25, 25-23.
WOSSAA 1-A volleyball, is at Westminster high school, in London, Nov. 16.
Turnovers hurt senior Rams
The St. Joseph's Rams held a 24-11 lead at half, but the John Paul II Jaguars came back to win the District AA senior girls basketball title, with a 51-41 win, at Fanshawe College.
"We never really had our stride, even in the first half. We got up, but I never felt we were playing the game that we set out to play," Rams coach Dave Fox said. "We did not take very good care of the basketball. We've been a good team at putting pressure on the other team and that was done to us today. We didn't handle that well. A lot of turnovers. they were aggressive."
The Jaguars went on a 17-3 run, in the third quarter, turning a 11 point deficit, into their first lead of the game, at 28-27.
Turnovers hurt the Rams throughout the second half, either bad passes or the Jaguars stealing the ball.
Yana Saliu led the Rams with 18 points and Maddie Johnson had 10.
"We've been playing pretty good the past two to three weeks, but didn't seem to have the jump we normally do," Fox said.
The Rams finished at 8-1, second in the District and won a tournament, held at North Middlesex, in Parkhill.
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