During the first half of the Brant County senior girls basketball season, all of the attention was pointed towards the Assumption College Lions and St. John's College Green Eagles.
Jessica Grant and her North Park Collegiate Trojans' teammates are trying to make a case that the league is not a two-horse race.
Despite a 38-28 loss to the Lions at ACS Tuesday night, the Trojans are beginning to make a case for themselves.
"We came off of a pretty good weekend (tournament in London) where we were all relaxed and played really good together," Grant said.
"At the beginning of this one, we were relaxed but for some reason we had Assumption in our heads and we blanked."
And that blank led to playing catch up all game long even though the Trojans seemed to be able to stifle their hosts with a very stingy half-court defence.
Despite the tough defence, Grade 9 star Rikayla Baldin and her sister, Jerika, led the Lions early charge, as they took a 10-4 first-quarter lead, which turned into 21-11 at the half.
In the end, the Baldin sisters each netted 13 points to lead all scorers.
"It was a good game. It was fast up and down the court," Rikayla Baldin said.
"Offensively we knew we had to fast break on them because their defence is so tight. They're a team you can't underestimate."
And that's something teammate Naomi Samuel said is going to be key for them down the stretch drive of the regular season.
"We knew this game would be a tough one to win," Samuel said.
"We all knew we needed to really hustle. They're (NPC) close. I wouldn't want to cancel them out or take them for granted.
"We want to really win the league and to do that, we have to really focus," she said.
"We know what we can accomplish and to do it, we can't underestimate anyone."
Which is something the Lions didn't do in the second half as the Trojans began to chip away at the lead.
"I think we learned a lot from this game," Grant said.
"We learned we can play with teams like this and I think we are a team to watch out for."
Though the Trojans have been nipping at the Lions' and Green Eagles' heels all season, Grant said the team is just beginning to figure things out. Much of that is because of a meeting the players held.
"We pulled the team together and decided to make goals for the team," Grant said.
"Our goal is to win CWOSSA (AAA). We want to go to OFSAA one more time. To do that, everyone has to have their head in the game every practice and every game."
She also said the players are also starting to buy into where they fit into the team.
"We've learned how to play roles," Grant said.
"Every game is going to be different. Someone will be the scorer, if someone needs to play defence and that's it. It's going to take believing in each other. We have a very strong half court defence. We have to believe in our help. We know where we are and what we need to do to win. Hopefully teams will start looking at us as a threat."
SENIOR
ACS 38, NPC 28.
ACS: Rikayla Baldin 13, Jerika Baldin 13, Abby Heron 6, Naomi Samuel 2, Alex VanDyk 2, Sara Harris 1. NPC: Allyson DeLorenzi 7, Abbey Johnston 7, Abbey Sayles 7, Jessica Grant 6, Natasha Linnington 1.
SJC 63, PJC 18.
SJC: Megan Thompson 16, Monica Polgar 13, Kendra Van Leeuwen 9, Brianna Bavota 8, Jessika Dignan 4, Jamie Foster 4.
PJC: Kaitlyn Andrew 8, Madeline Dailey 4, Tasha Irwin 2, Ciara Antoski 2, Megan Barnes 2.
BCI 57, Paris 6.
BCI: Bailey Vachon 13, Summer Sukaluk 10, Victoria Waud 10.
Paris: Beth Stulen 2, Katie McParlin 2, Pamela Vellenga 2.
JUNIOR
NPC 45, ACS 33.
NPC: Gabbi Morton 12, Sarah Minutillo 11, Hallie Sitarski 8, Brook Cesar 7, Jordan Fowler 2, Julia Rankin 2, Hattie Osborne 2.
ACS: Atalata Crosby 6, Chelsea Murray 12, Tenisha Osborne 2, Tatum Osborne 5, Jordan Beda 8.
BCI 34, Paris 23.
BCI: Kiana Marlia 13, Madison McBride 6.
Paris: Avery Hamill 10, Courtney Boehmer 3, Micaela Hanley 2.
SJC defeated PJC. No score submitted.
Retrieved From: http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2012/10/16/senior-lions-overcome-trojans-defence
