BRANTFORD - Jessica Grant and the North Park Collegiate Trojans showed what the heart of a champion looks like Saturday.
After building what looked like an insurmountable lead, Grant and her teammates had to dig deeper than they ever have before to beat Cambridge's Jacob Hespeler Secondary School Hawks 36-34 to capture their third-straight Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association AAA senior girls basketball title.
“As much as last year meant to us being with our original team, this year means even more,” said Grant, who only scored two points, but played a huge defensive role to lead the Trojans to another Ontario Federation of Schools Athletic Association berth. “It proves that it doesn't matter if you have an entire team that plays JUEL. It comes down to who has the most heart and we showed that we had heart in that game. Every single player on our team showed it.”
After leading 17-8 and 24-15 in the first half, then going 0-for much of the fourth quarter, the Hawks used their much larger size to peck away at the lead before Abbey Sayles hit the game-winning jumper with 20.9 seconds remaining.
“I just got the ball and did whatever I could do to get to the basket,” Sayles said. “When it went in, all I was thinking about was making sure they wouldn't score.”
Enter Kirsten Sowa.
With starters Allyson DeLorenzi and Abbey Johnston fouled out, Sowa came into the game to help fend off the surging Hawks, who took their only lead of the game 52 seconds before Sayles' winner.
With the Hawks threatening to score again, they were given a pair of foul shots with the Trojans up by one and 2.8 seconds left on the clock.
After the Hawks couldn't take advantage of the charity stripe, Sowa leaped to grab what may go down as the most important rebound of the Trojans' season. With the ball in her hands, Sowa was fouled and she added one more point to the lead.
“This is by far the biggest play I've ever made,” Sowa said. “During the timeout, our coach said just get the rebound. All we did was put all of our energy into that play.
I just jumped up and grabbed it. To be honest, I thought there was a timeout and then I heard the foul call.
“It was great to do it for the girls who have been here for so long,” she said. “For Ally (DeLorenzi) and Jess (Grant), this is their third year in a row going to OFSSA, and we really wanted to do it for them. We all went last year and it was a great experience. But we wanted to go back for them.”
Grant said Sowa is a great example of how this year's edition of the Trojans has shown so much heart.
“It shows that everyone on this team contributes,” Grant said. “She works her butt off in practice and she's a smart player and knew exactly what to do. And to hit that free throw like that was huge.
“And kudos to Abbey Sayles with that game-winning shot,” she said. “When I saw Ally D foul out I was thinking, 'oh my goodness.' And then when Abbey J fouled out we knew we had to step it up even more. It didn't look good. Abbey (Sayles) and I looked at each other and said this is our game.”
With the win, the Trojans now go to Belle River for the OFSAA AAA championships beginning Thursday.
“We just have to use the same approach,” Grant said. “We have to keep talking on the court, work as hard as we can and show that we're not scared. If we do that, who knows what can happen.”
In the CWOSSA AAA junior championships, also at NPC, the Trojans great season came to an end with a 44-42 to Kitchener Collegiate Institute.
Brooke Cesar led the depleated Trojans lineup with 17 points, while Gabrielle Marton added 14. Sarah Minutillo scored seven, and Julia Rankin added four.
Senior final
NPC 36, Jacob Hespeler SS 34.
NPC: Abbey Sayles 13, Allyson DeLorenzi 12, Natasha Linnington 6, Jessica Grant 2, Abbey Johnston 2, Kirsten Sowa 1.
Senior semifinals
NPC 52, BCI 24. NPC: Abbey Sayles 18, Allyson DeLorenzi 16, Abbey Johnston 8, Natasha Linnington 6, Jessica Grant 3.
BCI: Rachel Adkins 8, Cara Humeniuk 5, Bayley Vachon 4, Victoria Waud 3, Summer Sakaluk 3.
Jacob Hespeler 38, Southwood 32
Junior semifinals
KCI 44, NPC 42
Guelph CVI 33, Elmira 23
Junior final
Guelph CVI 38, KCI 26
Retrieved From: http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2012/11/18/trojans-gut-out-third-straight-title
