Article By: Gavin Crites
With an outstanding second half performance, the Assumption College Lions beat the North Park Collegiate Trojans 49-42 and earned themselves a spot in the Brant County senior girls basketball finals next week versus the St. John's College Green Eagles.
Down by four at the half, the Lions went on a seven-point run to open the third quarter and jump into a 20-17 lead.
"I asked them all in the change room at half time, 'How bad do they want it?'" Lions coach Rich Heron said.
"So, they showed it. We never looked back."
Both teams took control at different points in a game that saw several lead changes and no shortage of exciting plays. North Park's Reo Roland set the tone for her team early, scoring nine of her 13 points in the first quarter.
"Both teams played really hard and I think we just wanted it more tonight." Assumption coach Rich Heron.
Roland, who's typically a "pass first" type of point guard, scored from everywhere on the floor and looked to have the Lions defence figured out.
"It's playoffs. Everyone has to step up," she said.
"It was a great, exciting game. Both teams played really hard and I think we just wanted it more tonight," Heron said.
In a game where easy looks at the basket were hard to come by and second-chance opportunities were almost nil, both coaches gave credit to their team's defence.
"We really, really played good on the defensive end," Heron said. "Boxing out, grabbing rebounds and running the way we can."
North Park coach Andrea Hawkins said her squad played "phenomenal" defence in the first half.
"In the second half, they came out and pressed us and we turned it over a couple times and that's when we panicked," she added. "Which surprised me and my girls because we haven't panicked all year. We've played in a lot of tough games and they are prepared. But they definitely didn't show it."
Although the Lions had some trouble setting up their offence early, they were able to run their plays more effectively later in the game, which got them not only better looks, but more trips to the free throw line.
"Those are shots you're given. You can't really miss them," said Abby Heron, who went eight of ten at the line and led the Lions in scoring with 14 points.
"A big part of our game (tonight) was won at the foul line," she said.
In what was described in an early preview as "a season of two leagues," the Brant County girls basketball teams seem to relish the competition at the top end.
"The nice thing is because Assumption and St. John's and us are all so good, we pushed each other," said Hawkins. "Whatever team goes to CWOSSA, I think we've helped prepare each other for the next level."
Rebekah Couperus, who scored nine points for the Lions, said that playing St. John's in the final will be tough.
"We're really going to have to be on our game then," she added.
The finals are a "whole different mindset now," said Lions coach Rich Heron.
"We got to still do the same things, but we go to be a little more patient against St. John's. They have fast guards that could get a lot of steals. We got to be a little bit smarter."
In the other senior semifinal, the St. John's defeated the Brantford Collegiate Institute Mustangs 58-20. St. John's leading scorers were Katie Polischuk with 15, Lauren Dubois 10 and Brooke Glover 9. Kara Humenik led the Mustangs with 7, while Megan Melling added 6.
In the junior semifinals, SJC defeated the ACS 51-14 and BCI beat North Park 41-29.
Naomi Samuel led the Lions in scoring with four while Lexi Gleason added three. Megan Thompson led the Eagles with 14 points. Brianna Bavota added nine and Jamie Foster and Erin Dubois each put up six.
Outstanding players for BCI were Jenna Schonbacher, Summer Sakaluk and Bayley Vachon. Outstanding players for North Park were Bec Adkins, Halle Sitarski and Abbey Johnston.
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