The St. John's College Green Eagles (2-0) took an early lead over the Brantford Collegiate Institute Mustangs (1-1) in Brant County senior high school girls basketball action Tuesday night, and didn't look back.
The Eagles are the more experienced of the two teams, evident by their ability to impose their game plan on the Mustangs, effectively running set plays, which got them open looks at the basket. They also applied tight defensive pressure, forcing a significant number of Mustang turnovers.
The Mustangs played hard throughout the game, showing signs of improvement in the second half.
"We're starting from scratch," BCI coach Ron Jamula said of this year's team.
"Our opportunity is to beat (Pauline Johnson College) and to beat Paris (District High School). Realistically our chances against St John's, North Park and Assumption- we're just going to play, have fun, and hope to improve."
Jamula said that the Mustangs lost five key players from last year, all fifth-year students. This year's team is mostly made up of players in Grade 11, led by returning player Megan Melling, who scored 10 of the Mustangs' 18 points.
Nine of Melling's points came in the fourth quarter, all from behind the three-point arc.
"(Hitting those shots) felt pretty good, considering I couldn't really shoot in the first three quarters," she said.
The Eagles showed a more balanced scoring attack, with several players able to consistently knock down open looks around the basket and from outside the paint.
Katie Polischuk let the Eagles in scoring with 16 points. Shawni Hnatiuk added seven, while four other players put up six.
"(Our offence) is what we need to work on the most for when we play tougher games," said Polischuk.
"For senior girls, there's going to be tough competition in Brantford. I'm just excited to play," she added.
Eagles coach Matt Lynch said he thought his team came out with good intensity.
"Our defensive pressure and intensity was good when we played man and zone (coverage)," said Lynch, adding: "We started to move the ball quite well and shoot the ball quite well. It gave us some good opportunities at the offensive end."
Lynch said his team's game plan stays the same no matter the score.
"The thing is to maintain that intensity level throughout the entire game," he said.
However, he admitted that Tuesday's game gave the Eagles a chance to work on different things, such as going into zone or man coverage at the defensive end, and running some set plays at the offensive end.
Lynch said he thinks the league will be competitive at the top end with the Eagles facing challenges from Assumption College and North Park Collegiate.
"Every night there's something on the line," said Lynch.
"First place is on the line. Playoff spots are on the line. It's going to be a fun competitive league this year."
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