Brantford Expositor: High School Girls Season Set To Tip Off

Article By:  Hugo Rodrigues, Expositor Staff

The early prediction for the Brant senior girls high school basketball league is that it will be a season of two leagues.


League convenor Andrea Hawkins, also a coach at North Park, chalked up the 10-game regular season as two intense competitions between two sets of three schools.

On one side sit St. John's, North Park and Assumption. On another side are Brantford Collegiate, Pauline Johnson and Paris.

"There's a definite difference between the two groups of schools," Hawkins said this week. "It'll be interesting to see how the season shakes out as a result."

With the season set to open this week, The Expositor touched base with all six team coaches asking them what they thought about their squad and the season ahead.

Assumption College
Coach Rick Heron said he's excited about what could happen with the senior girls squad this year.

With five players gone from last year - two of whom were key players - along with five new additions, the team has a different feel than last season.

Five players are in Grade 11 and the two seniors in Grade 12 are being counted on more than last year. So far, they've stepped up to the challenge.

Key players include Abby Heron, Jerika Baldin and Sara Harris, who played a part as the team won a tournament in Peterborough last weekend with AA and AAA teams in the mix.

Heron said the goal is to have the team peak near the end of the 10-game regular season.

"We have North Park, one of the toughest teams, right off the bat to start the season," he said.

Brantford Collegiate Institute
Coach Ron Jamula said the senior girls team is in a rebuilding year after three successive strong seasons.

Gone from last year's team are sisters Spencer and Tory Candy, Jacqueline Jamula, Claudia DiFrancesco and Mia Vamos-Yuhasz.

Returning this year is Meghan Melling, the team captain and an all-around athlete.

Helping on the rebuilding front for next year are Grade 11s Rachel Adkins, Cara Humeniuk, Brooke Newsome and Melanie Guennette, all of whom are excellent athletes, said Jamula. The team's most experienced player is Rachel Adkins.

Jamula said BCI is a legitimate contender for fourth place in the local league and possibly a berth in the AAA Central West Ontario regionals.

"We will have to play solid defence to compete and we hope to develop offensively throughout the year," Jamula said.

North Park Collegiate
Coach Andrea Hawkins said that her team's goal for 2011-12 is to return to the provincial championship. The school lost in the quarterfinals at last year's provincials by a single point.

That goal will be backed by seven returning Grade 12 players- Reo Roland, Laura Chappel, Allison Delorenzi, Haley Welsh, Allyson Ballantyne, Jessica Grant and Cassie Fletcher.

The team lost Holly Ryerse to a Redeemer College scholarship, with Jenny Howell and Kaitlyn Lumax also graduating in June.

"As long as we stay healthy and injury free, we have a good chance of making it back to OFSAA," Hawkins said. "We can play big and small …. We have the opportunity to do something we've not done in a really long time, which would be nice."

Paris District High School
Coach Dani Hawkins is frank in her assessment that this year's squad is inexperienced.

There are five returning players- Julia Hmiel, Hayley Parker, Emma Peirce, Deven Knill and Chelsea Loube. Hawkins said all five look strong.

None of the players on the team play ball outside of the school season and the team has lost a few players to a new rugby league.

New talent includes Alex Forsyth, Kenzie Coombe, Melissa Snodgrass and Skylar Wright.

Hawkins said she expects Forsyth and Coombe will step into roles in the starting five.

Pauline Johnson Collegiate
Coach Neal Stamer noted that skill development and team cohesion will be key in the coming weeks as the team sees five strong core players return to the court with a number of promising additions.

Madeline Dailey, who Stamer called a fantastic all-around athlete, moved up from the junior squad, along with Mackenzie Pulham and Ainslee Waller, a player Stamer said has "great hustle and heart."

Key players for the team will be the core of Grade 12 players led by guards Erica Hewson and Zoe Wickson, centre Chelsea Biggs and forwards Colleen Thibert and Erica Jacobs.

The team hosted a pre-season tournament last weekend to finalize the lineup for the coming regular season.

St. John's College
Coach Matt Lynch said the senior squad has been playing with a lot of intensity these past few weeks in preparation for the upcoming season. He was particularly impressed with how they played against an experienced North Park team over the weekend.

The squad placed fourth in the provincials last year, with a recent history of having won both gold and silver medals. Only Katie Polischuk remains on the team from those days.

Polischuk is a first-team all-star from this summer's Ontario Basketball Association championships. She's joined by Shawni Hnatiuk and speedy guard Charlotte Clark.

The team lost Kelly Van Leeuwen to a U.S. scholarship, while Kayla Santilli is playing at Brock University in St. Catharines and Rachel Cleary is playing at the University of New Brunswick.

Four players who moved up from the junior team are fitting in seamlessly, said Lynch, noting that they're learning the systems and style of ball the team plays well.

"We're small compared to other teams and we have a lot of guards," he said. "But we make up for it with our speed and intensity."

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