Article By: Darryl G. SmartIt’s a winning formula John Luciani has been able to stick with for years. And if you ask Tessa Hamilton, Kara Ebdon or any of the other Delhi Raiders junior basketball team, they’re certainly glad to be part of it.
After winning at the elementary school level with St. Frances School in Delhi, the Raiders core group, and Luciani, did it again.
Thanks to a 39-18 win over the Holy Trinity Titans Thursday at Simcoe Composite School, they made it two-in-a-row for themselves, and a third-straight Norfolk Secondary School Athletic Association junior girls basketball championship for the program.
“It’s amazing. It really is.,” Hamilton said. “We tried to keep it at our school. We won it last year. It’s great to win two years in a row as a group.”
Ebdon said it was a huge step up coming from elementary school last year. But with most of this year’s team having played together under Luciani’s guidance for several years, it’s made the transition an easy and very successful one.
“Having played with each other for so long has made it really easy,’ Ebdon said. “We seem to know where each other are. In games like this that really helps.”
Despite the familiarity and a third-straight undefeated season on the line, the Raiders captains did admit there were plenty of nerves throughout.
“There was a lot of pressure at the beginning of the year,” Hamilton said. “Our captains from last year moved up to senior, and we’ve won for the last couple of years. All we wanted to do was keep the winning tradition alive.”
Ebdon said with a packed house on hand at SCS to watch the game, it made things even more nerve racking.
“At the beginning of the game we were super nervous,” Ebdon said. “Holy Trinity is our big rival. We wanted to start strong and end strong.”
And that’s exactly what the Raiders did, with Hamilton leading the way with 12 points, while Ebdon, Mercedes Duwyn and Kassidy Deming chipping in with six points each. Brooklyn Hill netted five points, while Victoria Johnson and Lexi Antonissen added two each.
Hailey Boyd led the Titans with six points, while Taylor Watters had four. Chistine VanDeWiele, Rachel Winger, Leanna Sherman and Bianca Bachmann each added two points.
Next week the Raiders will go to Bishop Macdonell Catholic Secondary School in Guelph for the Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association AA championships, while the Titans will need a play-in game to get to the AAA tournament at North Park Collegiate in Brantford.
