Despite winning a CWOSSA 'AAA' championship last year, North Park Collegiate senior girls basketball coach Andrea Hawkins realizes it's going to be difficult for her Trojans to get back to that tournament.
“I think it's going to be a good league this year,” Hawkins said of the Brant County circuit. “I really do.
“I think honestly St. John's is a step ahead of everybody. Then I think BCI, us and Assumption are going to battle for second.”
While St. John's is clearly the favourite early in the season – the Green Eagles competed at the AAAA level last season but the school's population dropped so St. John's is in AAA – lots can happen before now and when the last basket has been scored in Brant.
Hawkins will be hoping for steady improvement from a team that has a ton of talent.
Last season the Trojans finished third in Brant County and then lost to Assumption – which was also AAAA last season – in the semifinals.
Because North Park was the highest remaining AAA seed in Brant, it go to go to the Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association championships, which it hosted.
Playing on their home court, the Trojans won the championship and qualified for the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championship, where it went 1-3.
“We were happy to get there,” Hawkins said of the OFSAA berth.
“We upset two teams in CWOSSA that we shouldn't have beat to get there. The kids played very well.”
This season North Park returns five players from last year's team, including two that played major roles a year ago in Abbey Sayles and Abbey Johnston.
Rebecca Adkins, Taylor Greenwood and Jasneet Dhanoa are also back and they'll be expected to contribute this season especially considering the circumstances NPC currently finds itself in.
Hawkins took nine players for the team this year but she only has seven at her disposal as an injured ACL and fractured finger have sidelined two players.
Last week, in its first game of the season, a 41-40 loss to Brantford Collegiate Institute, the Trojans found out just how hard the league is going to be.
However, with a starting five of Sayles and Sarah Minutillo at guard, Johnston and Adkins at forward and Gabrielle Marton at centre, the team played put forth a great effort against the Mustangs.
“We played well,” said Hawkins. “We handled their press no problem but they sat in a zone that drove us crazy. We missed a lot of easy shots we can't afford to miss.
“(BCI is) strong. It's going to be a good game every time.”
BCI had pressed NPC in the past with great success but Hawkins feels her players are starting to mature and understand the game much better.
With that in mind, Hawkins said the team must keep its opponents from the charity stripe and its own players off the bench.
“For me, it's going to be staying out of foul trouble,” she said of what the team needs to work on the most. “If I can keep my best players on the floor, we're going to win games.
“They're learning to play. Abbey (Johnston) and Sarah are both very aggressive and they're both very quick. They like to pressure and go after the ball but they're starting to learn to play with fouls which is good because last year that was a big struggle.
“Abbey and Abbey and Sarah are three phenomenal players for me. Abbey Johnston has matured so much this past year and Sarah Minutillo's defence is fantastic.”
Hawkins, whose team rebounded from its first-game loss with a 54-22 win against Assumption on Tuesday, would love to see her team run the floor but it's tough with just seven healthy.
“Our strength is we can run and we can press,” she said. “It's a balance that somehow I have to figure out and they have to figure out because we're the best when we press and run but we only have seven so they don't get to run.
“I'm very cautious on how I use my timeouts. Lots of times in the second half I'm using timeouts not necessarily for strategy but more for rest.”
North Park, which is scheduled to host Paris on Thursday at 5:30 p.m., will be hosting CWOSSA AAA again this year.
Retrieved From: http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2013/09/25/trojans-see-battle-for-second
