Cubelic goes out on top
Viktoria Cubelic couldn’t envision a better way to wrap up her high school basketball career.
The 17-year-old, Grade 12 student at St. Francis poured in 12 points and was named the player of the game as Zone 4 defeated Zone 3 64-54 in the top 10 game at the 14th Annual Niagara Girls All-Star games Wednesday at the St. Catharines Collegiate.
“It’s awesome playing with the best girls in the region to end it off,” Cubelic said. “It’s an awesome experience and it’s so great people organize things like this for us.”
The event was organized by Gerry McIlhone, Frank Keltos and the CYO Rebels basketball board of directors.
Cubelic, who plays at the club level with the Niagara Girls Basketball Academy in Welland, has some serious thinking to do as she considers he next step.
She’s narrowed her choices to Queen’s, McMaster and Waterloo where she plans to study science.
Cubelic enjoyed how well the team meshed together so quickly.
“I think it went good. Personally, I didn’t play too great. I had a couple of OK plays, but the team played great and moved the ball really well,” she said. “Sometimes it’s a problem in all-star games with people being selfish. You want to show off, but I think as a team we played well.
“It’s a little bit difficult because you think you know where someone is going to go but they go somewhere else because you’re not used to playing with them, You get a feel for them by the fourth quarter and we started to move the ball well and get some fast breaks. Once we got into our press, it was awesome.”
She said the pre-game meeting centred on having a good time.
“We talked about putting on a show. You want it to be enjoyable to watch and also showcasing our skills. Everyone has a strong suit and you want to be able to showcase everybody.”
Keltos, who coached the Zone 4 squad, told his players not to be shy when it came time to shoot the ball.
“I told them to try and get the ball up as many times as possible so everybody gets touches,” he said. “We’re here to show our talent and score so we tried to get the ball up every 15 seconds and then defend.”
Keltos loves that the game gives the players one last hurrah for the season.
“We’re in February. They kind of forgot about basketball and now it’s kind of cool.”
Zone 4 64 Zone 3 54
BPSN All-Stars of the Game: Viktoria Cubelic of Zone 4 and Tori DiDomenico-Rigas of Zone 3
Zone 4: Cubelic, St. Francis 12; Olivia Iannotta, Blessed Trinity 11; Ally Sentance, Sir Winston 11; Kaley DeMont, Sir Winston 10; Mackenzie Schroeder, Eden 6; Mia DiPasquale, Blessed Trinity 6; Terin Hultink, Smithville District 4; Allison Addy, Governor Simcoe 3; Avery Cushing Eden 2.
Zone 3: DiDomenico-Rigas, A.N. Myer 18; Emma Koabel, Lakeshore 14; Alissa Mete, Notre Dame 7; Emily Braun, A.N. Myer 6; Sydney Grummet, E.L. Crossley 4; Isabelle Sinclair, Jean Vanier 4.
SUPPORT US
On the right side of our web site, you will notice a yellow SUPPORT US button.
We are asking anyone who finds value in our work and is able to financially help us to click on the button and contribute whatever amount you feel is appropriate and can afford. There is no set amount. Any amount is appreciated.
The funds collected will be used to enhance and offset the expenses of running the web site.
