Vanier take home antique bronze
The Jean Vanier Lynx came away with a medal from the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations A basketball championships, but it was far from their colour of choice.
The Lynx dropped a 55-51 decision to No. 1 seed O’Gorman Knights of Timmins Saturday night at Vanier and were awarded the antique bronze medal.
The No. 3 Lynx had high hopes of competing for a gold medal but dropped a 28-21 decision to the No. 2 seed E.J. Lajeunesse Lions of Windsor in the semifinals Saturday morning and were relegated to the bronze medal game.
It was a disappointing way for the Lynx to wind up their season before their home fans.
“I’m just happy I got to finish it with these girls,” graduating guard Isabelle Sinclair said. “We’ve been through so many ups and downs.
“A lot of people didn’t think we would get this far so I’m just happy we got to the medal round. It’s disappointing but I’m happy with the progress we made and having some hardware to leave OFSAA with.”
Sinclair, a 17-year-old, Grade 12 student, led the Lynx with 21 points in her final high school game.
“(I’m going to miss) the togetherness of the girls, all the road trips,” she said. “The whole experience, all the tournaments together. It’s all been such a blast.”
The Lynx could have easily come home with a bronze were it not for some key turnovers and inability to defend Knights’ guard Ally Burke, who led all scorers with 30 points.
“We had a game plan that we did not follow in the second half,” Vanier head coach Tara Poulin said. “We wanted to shut down 24 (Burke) and we didn’t do that as a team.
“I think we beat ourselves. We had a lot of brain farts in that fourth quarter that cost us.”
The Lynx led 37-33 after three quarters before the Knights took over in the fourth. Vanier had a couple of chances late to at least have the opportunity to try and tie the game, but turned the ball over twice with less than a minute to play.
In the semifinal game, Sinclair had 20 of Vanier’s 21 points while guard Andrea Hebert scored their other point.
“I’m super-happy with the game,” Poulin said. “We kept a team to 28 points but when Andrea goes zero-for-whatever from the floor, you can’t win. She got good shots off but they just weren’t falling. She was battling a knee injury and you could tell in her shooting form but I was more than happy with the effort they gave.”
Sinclair, Alyssa Arcand, Karly Jolin and Ariel Wendling and manager Alex Levitt all graduate this year and played their last games for the Lynx.
STATS PACK
Knights 55 Lynx 51
Mick and Angelo’s/Johnny Rocco’s/Cracker Jacks Player of the Game: O’Gorman guard Ally Burke with 30 points.
For the Jean Vanier Lynx: Isabelle Sinclair 21; Andrea Hebert 15; Mia Wendling 6; Ariel Wendling 4; Alyssa Arcand 3; Kimberly Brinker 2.
For the O’Gorman High School Knights: Burke 30; Ava Fregonese 14.
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