Article By: Brian Smiley
The St. John’s College Green Eagles senior girls’ basketball team’s recent dominant run at CWOSSA continued last weekend.
The St. John’s College Green Eagles senior girls’ basketball team’s recent dominant run at CWOSSA continued last weekend.
For the third straight year – and seventh time in the past
10 seasons – St. John’s captured a Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools
Association championship.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the girls,” said SJC coach Matt
Lynch, whose team went undefeated at Waterloo Collegiate Institute to win the
CWOSSA ‘AAA’ title. “It was a great weekend and it’s been a great season so
far.
“They’re a nice group to be around, too. In practice they
work really hard and they seem to enjoy being around each other. They push each
other and help each other get better.
“To see it come together with them holding the trophy up, it
doesn’t get any better as a coach.”
This year’s Brant County and CWOSSA championships are the
most recent items of hardware that the senior girls’ basketball team has
stuffed into an overflowing trophy case. In the past 10 years, SJC hasn’t just
dominated at the CWOSSA level but also at the Brant County level. This year’s
Brant County championship was the team’s 10th straight.
“It is pretty special when you think about,” said Lynch, who
is being helped with the coaching duties this season by Steve Van Leeuwen, Gina
Tarantello and Arielle Mendoza.
“You think about all the teams in that run and all the
players and they’re all pretty special groups. They have a commitment to the
program and the tradition of basketball at St. John’s.”
The CWOSSA wins, including a 62-30 victory against Sir John
A. Macdonald in the final, were a little lopsided on the score sheet but Lynch
said the Eagles haven’t taken anything for granted this season.
“I definitely wouldn’t say it was smooth sailing,” he said.
“We preach about the challenge in front of us and not looking ahead.
“At BCSSAA finals we weren’t really looking ahead to CWOSSA,
we were kind of trying to take care of business. And then (last) weekend, we
weren’t looking forward to the championship game, we were worrying about the
game we were in right there.”
To earn the CWOSSA championship, the coaches leaned on the
entire team.
“I would say it was a complete team effort,” said Lynch.
“Even this weekend, we had different girls step up at different times. If I
think back to the weekend, everybody had their time or their moment that they
helped us get to where we are.”
The Eagles are now headed to the Ontario Federation of
School Athletic Associations ‘AAA’ championships in Windsor, a tournament that
will run from Thursday through to Saturday.
Prior to the seedings being released on Monday, Lynch felt
his team would get a high ranking thanks to its 32-2 record. However, his
team’s seed won’t matter because all the teams at OFSAA are capable of winning.
“I think we’ll be a top-three seed but that being said, with
‘AAA’ and ‘AAAA’ merging, essentially every team there is capable of beating
any other team,” said the coach, whose team was seeded No. 2 later in the day
on Monday.
“It’s not like in previous years where your second round
game may not be as competitive. You have to play five, and beat five, really
good teams to win it all.”
That list of teams should include No. 1 seed St. Mary’s High
School from Hamilton.
“They’re a very talented group,” Lynch said of one of the
two teams to hand his squad a loss this season.
“They’re very similar to last year’s team. They have seven
or eight guards who can shoot the ball very well. They’re well coached and they
come from a very strong tradition. They’ve won the gold medal at OFSAA the last
four years in a row.
“They’re a well-rounded team.”
Not that they need any, but the Green Eagles have an added
incentive to make it to the final against St. Mary’s since that’s the team St.
John’s lost to last year in the OFSAA championship game.
“If you’re going to tell me that we were going to play St.
Mary’s in the championship again, I would definitely take it,” Lynch said. “I
think everybody would like an opportunity to play for an OFSAA medal and to
play for a gold medal against the best would be something special and something
you could only hope for.”
Regardless of who they play, Lynch said the players are
pumped for the challenge.
“They’re really excited,” he said. “It is special. It’s
special for them to win BCSSAA. It’s special for them to win CWOSSA and then a
chance to go to OFSAA again and be with each other and finish the season off
right. I think they’re pretty pumped up for it.
“We’re excited for the opportunity. As coaches we couldn’t
be more proud of the group. We’re looking to play hard and have a good
weekend.”
Members of SJC’s CWOSSA championship team include: Kendra
Van Leeuwen, Leah Coon, Erin Dubois, Maddi Cohoon, Alaina McMillan, Kaitlyn
Overeem, Alex Girardi, Ashley Derks, Cassidy Lacey and Emily Dignan.
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