Article By: Darryl G. SmartPatience paid off for Leah Ebdon, Kendra Freund and the Delhi Raiders on Thursday.
After trailing by two at the half and not really playing their style of basketball, the Raiders stormed back to capture the Norfolk Secondary School Athletic Association senior girls basketball title with a 48-38 win over the two-time defending champion Simcoe Sabres.
“This is so exciting,” Freund said. “I don’t even know (what I was thinking when the buzzer went). I was just so excited. It’s my last year, so to win it is pretty special.”
And what made it even sweeter, was doing it in the Sabres’ gym.
“It feels amazing to beat them,” Ebdon said. “We know how amazing they are, so to beat them in Simcoe makes it even better.”
The Grade 12 student said it’s been a tough battle between the two teams all season, with each team winning a game.
“I was so relieved,” Ebdon said. “We’ve worked really hard for this and it’s always a great rivalry with Simcoe. It usually comes right down to the end and it did tonight too.”
But to do it, the Raiders had to do some soul searching in the dressing room.
“(At halftime the coaches) Told us to just be patient and don’t let the crowd get to you,” Ebdon said.
“When you come play here you always know it’s going to be loud. They said to just take your time and play our game.”
And that’s exactly what they did by attacking the paint more often, which was something they didn’t do enough of in the first half.
“We came right after them in the second half and got a couple of steals,” Freund said. “I think it really flustered them. We really buckled down and started to play at the speed we wanted to play and not the way they wanted it. We focused on good passes and put it all together.”
While Ebdon scored 12 points and Freund had 10, Breanne Vande Ven led all scorers with 16 points, 12 of which came from beyond the arc. Emily Leger pitched in with nine points, while Morgan King had one.
Hailey Taylor led the Sabres scoring 15 points, while Gillian Pond netted seven. Jenna Schott, Taome Muntz-Flowerday, Justine Shortt and Rachel Krisko each added four points.
Though the Raiders are reveling in the victory, their season is not over. They’ll go to Bishop Macdonell Catholic Secondary School in Guelph for the Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association AA championships next week.
“I’m pretty pumped to be going to CWOSSA,” Ebdon said. “Last time we went we were a single-A school, and this year we’re playing double-A. The competition is going to be really strong. We just have to keep playing like we did today.”
