Article By: Vincent Ball The St. John's College Green Eagles used intense defence to force turnovers that they converted into points to capture the CWOSSA AAA junior girls basketball championship.
The Eagles beat Waterloo-Oxford District Secondary School 61-35 in Saturday's Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association's title game at SJC.
"We worked really, really hard," said Emily Dignan of the Green Eagles. "At halftime it was close and in the change room, we just really got each other motivated.
"We just said this is CWOSSA and we have to push through it."
Dignan wanted to make her last game as a junior her best.
"I'm really happy to have won my second CWOSSA at St. John's," she said.
In the first quarter, Waterloo -Oxford, a well-coached and disciplined team, showed a lot of patience on offence, waiting for the open shot, while SJC, playing with its usual intensity, had a hard time getting shots to fall. The quarter ended tied at 8-8.
The second quarter saw a couple of momentum shifts with SJC getting hot and taking a five-point lead only to see it evaporate as Waterloo - Oxford made a couple of shots to even the score at the midway point.
But at halftime, the Green Eagles, thanks to Kaitlyn Overeem, led 27-19. Overeem had a couple of steals on the defensive end, which she took coast-to-coast to convert for easy layups.
The Green Eagles also got some timely scoring from Dignan, who hit a jumper, and Sadie Lemmon, who hit a nice three-pointer.
Waterloo-Oxford showed some spark in the third quarter but the Green Eagles continued to take the ball to the hoop and draw fouls. It was 39-31 for the Green Eagles after three quarters.
In the final quarter, it was the Green Eagles' intensity and defensive pressure all over the floor and the leadership of Dignan that allowed them to pull away for the win.
"The girls really came together at the right time," said coach Alexa Santilli, who is helped on the bench by Brittany Forrest.
"I told them to ... be patient on offence and to play the game they're capable of playing. I knew defence would win the game for us and the girls proved me right."
The Green Eagles were led in scoring by Overeem with 19, Dignan with 18, Sadie Lemmon with nine and Scarlett O'Grady with six.
In the junior semifinal, the Green Eagles defeated Galt 55-22 with Dignan leading the way with 18 points, followed by Overeem with 13 and Mikayla Castagna and Lemmon with eight points each.
Members of the CWOSSA AAA championship not already mentioned are: Kennedy Biro, Jen Wator, Nadia Coleman, Taylor Cross and Sophie Lawson.
Retrieved From: http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2014/11/15/cwossa-champs
