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| GRCI - 2014 WCSSAA Sr. Girls Champs |
That's what you have to consider after the Grand River Renegades, a team that starts five grade eleven players, took care of the Jacob Hespeler Hawks 63-43, completing their perfect WCSSAA Senior Girls season last night in Cambridge.
Everything went right for the Rens last night, save for the game's opening minutes. A couple of buckets inside from Jasmine Ramcharan helped the Hawks take an early 6-0 lead, before the Rens closed the opening quarter on a 14-2 run to assume a 6-point lead after eight minutes.
A second-quarter Renegade surge (14-9) was keyed by some big-time outside shooting by Nyamuoch Teny, as well as drives inside by Maya Day. Those two combined for virtually all of the Grand River scoring in the first half, although that's not to discount the contributions of their teammates.
Nancy Michael, the most diminutive of the Rens' starters, had some great hustle plays, including a couple timely rebounds that led to second-chance buckets.
To start the third quarter, it was clear that Hespeler had made some half-time adjustments.
The Hawks made a point of getting the ball inside to their star, Candice Wright, who responded with six quick points during a Hespeler surge that got them back to a single-digit deficit.
Every time it seemed like the Hawks might make a run, though, the Rens continued to answer on the other end. Teny and Day provided the bulk of the offensive punch, but a jumper by Tara DeBoer in the waning seconds of the third quarter pushed Grand River to a 45-31 lead entering the fourth.
It would be a deficit that was insurmountable.
The Hawks had a couple of opportunities in the final frame to bring things to within single digits, but any thought of a comeback was eliminated with under 3 minutes to go when Nyamuoch Teny sunk a dagger three-pointer from the corner, which was followed by a steal and a Nancy Michael lay-up to put the Rens up 18.
Even the Grand River reserves got in on the action, going 3-for-4 from the floor and 1-for-1 from the line for 7 points in the final couple of minutes --- much to the delight of the starters on the bench.
Nyamuoch Teny finished with a game-high 23 points, which included a blistering 5-for-9 mark from three-point territory. Maya Day's final tally was 16 points, while other Rens hitting the scoresheet included Tara DeBoer (6), Nyasha Mombeshora (5), Nancy Michael (4), Tijana Abadzic (2), Jessica Zmija (2), and two junior players that the Rens have since called up to the Senior squad, Angelica Lloyd (3) and Jenna Crawford (2).
The Rens, in fact, have called up five junior players since their season ended to the senior squad, which probably makes practices a little easier after 7 seniors finished the season on the roster.
For JHSS, Candice Wright finished with 15 points, while Shianne Riggan added 8. Also scoring were Jasmine Ramcharan (7), Taylor Finamore (5), Sam Tonner (4), and Kendra Dennis (4).
The Renegades are probably the slight favourites entering what should be a highly entertaining CWOSSA "AAAA" championship this weekend in Waterloo. Jacob Hespeler, meanwhile, will travel to Brantford to partake in the "AAA" championship.
Boxscore
GRCI 14-14-17-18 = 63
JHSS 08-09-14-12 = 43
Grand River
N. Michael 2-5 FG, 0-0 FT, 7 Reb, 2 Ast - 4 Pts.
N. Teny 9-19 FG, 0-0 FT, 2 Reb, 1 Ast - 23 Pts.
Mombesh'ra 1-1 FG, 2-4 FT, 6 Reb, 1 Ast - 5 Pts.
T. DeBoer 3-7 FG, 0-0 FT, 6 Reb, 0 Ast - 6 Pts.
M. Day 4-9 FG, 7-8 FT, 3 Reb, 3 Ast - 16 Pts.
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T. Abadzic 1-6 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 3 Ast - 2 Pts.
J. Zmija 1-1 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 2 Pts.
A. Lloyd 1-1 FG, 1-1 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 3 Pts.
K. Kochut 0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
E. Cudney 0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
S. Suljak 0-1 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
J. Crawford 1-1 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 2 Pts.
Field Goals: 23-51 (.451). Free-Throws: 10-13 (.769). Three-Point Goals: 7-17, .412 (N. Teny 5-9, N. Mombeshora 1-1, M. Day 1-3, N. Michael 0-1, T. Abadzic 0-3).
Jacob Hespeler
Ramcharan 3-9 FG, 0-0 FT, 2 Reb, 2 Ast - 7 Pts.
S. Tonner 2-5 FG, 0-2 FT, 4 Reb, 3 Ast - 4 Pts.
K. Dennis 2-10 FG, 0-0 FT, 2 Reb, 2 Ast - 4 Pts.
S. Riggan 3-7 FG, 2-2 FT, 4 Reb, 2 Ast - 8 Pts.
Ca. Wright 6-12 FG, 3-4 FT, 5 Reb, 1 Ast - 15 Pts.
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T. Finamore 2-4 FG, 1-2 FT, 4 Reb, 0 Ast - 5 Pts.
Field Goals: 18-47 (.383). Free-Throws: 6-10 (.600). Three-Point Goals: 1-9, .111 (J. Ramcharan 1-3, S. Tonner 0-1, T. Finamore 0-1, K. Dennis 0-2, S. Riggan 0-2).
