Rachel Cleary scored only three points Tuesday night but she may have been the most valuable player for the St. John's College Green Eagles in their 52-29 victory over the North Park Collegiate Trojans at Assumption College.
The victory gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead in the Brant County high school senior girls' best-of- three championship playoff which resumes with Game 2 at Assumption on Thursday at 7 p.m. If necessary, Game 3 will be played next Monday night at Assumption.
The Eagles and the Trojans will both advance to Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association championships to be played on November 19 and 20.
The Eagles will play for the Quad-A title in Brantford and the Trojans will play for the AAA crown at Jacob Hespeler in Cambridge.
The Eagles are playing without under-17 provincial team forward Katie Polischuk, who is injured.
So, St. John's is depending on the five-foot-11 Cleary to clean the backboards, which isn't an easy job against the Trojans, who hold a height advantage over the Eagles.
However, Cleary more than held her own Tuesday.
"I don't feel as much pressure as maybe I should," she said. "I always have my team supporting me."
The fact that Cleary is playing is amazing. She was injured last spring in a car accident that left her with numerous fractures, including in her feet.
She explained that "pins" have been removed from her injured bones but she rubs a freezing cream on her feet before each game to help her deal with the pain.
"Rachel, like all the other kids on the team, works hard in practice trying to get better," said St. John's head coach Steve Van Leeuwen.
"In her situation, working to get better after a major car accident is remarkable. She competes every night. Quite often she's guarding the biggest player on the other team and she does whatever we ask her to do," the coach said.
"Rachel really works hard on her defensive boards and the defensive boards starts our transition. It's not like she gets a night off very often and, to play through the pain, it takes a lot of intestinal fortitude."
The Trojans jumped into a 6-0 lead but the Eagles, undefeated in Brant County this season, rebounded to lead 8-6 by the end of the first quarter.
St. John's dominated the second quarter to build a 29-16 lead by the half.
The Eagles cruised through the second half, leading 45-21 after three quarters.
Kelly Van Leeuwen led the Eagles with 18 points. Kayla Santilli scored 12 and Arielle Mendoza got 10. Caroline Rebry chipped in six.
Reo Roland and Allyson DeLorenzi each scored 10 points for the Trojans and Laura Chapple got seven points.
The Eagles are expecting another physical game from the Trojans.
"It'll be another good game," said Cleary. "Our team can pull it off but we have to work hard with a team like North Park."
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