Bulldogs punch ticket to championship final

Kate Smyth was all world for the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs Thursday.

The 17-year-old, Grade 12 guard poured in a game high 21 points while also running the offence as the Bulldogs outlasted the Blessed Trinity Thunder 47-37 in a championship round semifinal game at the BPSN Girls Basketball Tournament.

“It feels so good,” Smyth said. “Last year I was setting up my teammates who were there to score all the points.”

Sir Winston coach Frank Keltos praised Smyth’s natural talents. 

“She’s awesome, she’s the fastest player out there,” Keltos said. “She is ridiculously athletic. Nobody can keep up with her. She is as fast as they come and she can finish. It’s pretty awesome. Once she gets that step on a girl, it’s in.”

The teams battled for three quarters before the Bulldogs took over in the final eight minutes, outscoring the Thunder 11-3.

“We played them in the preseason Brock tournament and lost to them by four points so we knew we had to focus on what we had today to give it our all,” Smyth said. “It was one of the most important games of the tournament, to make it to the finals and for a medal. I think that was our main focus, to put that (loss) in the past and focus on playing together as a team.”

Smyth is encouraged how far the Bulldogs have come in such a short span of time.

“From that game to this game we have already improved so much. We were just thinking about the adjustments and the progress we made and continue on that path,” she said.

Smyth was part of a Bulldogs squad that captured last year’s BPSN title.

“It’s so exciting. We won last year and it was one of the most exciting, surreal feelings. I’m really hoping we can get back to that,” she said.

To repeat, the Bulldogs will have to go through the A.N. Myer Marauders, who topped Notre Dame in the other semifinal Thursday.

“I’ve played with three of their starters so they’re going to be really good,” Smyth said. “They all play travel but I think we can compete with them. Watching them play Notre Dame, we played Notre Dame and I think they are pretty even in skill and I definitely think we have a chance at it. If we just focus and play hard we can definitely do well against them.”

Keltos knows his charges will be in tough.

“I know they have a bunch of guards who play travel, a big bench and good coaches. They all know what they’re doing. They’ll prepare and we’ll just go in with what we’ve got,” Keltos said. “We’ll be shorthanded a couple of girls but we have our main three, four. We’ll piece-meal it together and see what happens.”

The Thunder were without star guard Lita Sutor, who playing for her club team. As well, Magdalena Vukojev fouled out in the fourth quarter.

Still, the Thunder had a chance to win.

“The shots were there,” BT coach Gabe Diadamo said. “A lot of missed layups, a lot of missed shots within three or four feet. What are you going to do?”

STATS PACK

Bulldogs 47 Thunder 37

Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Sir Winston guard Kate Smyth with 21 points.

Sir Winston Churchill: Smyth 21, Anya Namestnik 10, Kyra Pink 6, Sydney Jones 4, Mikhail Marshall 4, Norah Hoff 2. 

Blessed Trinity Thunder: Magdalena Vukojev 12, Maria DiFlavio 10, Alana Meester 6, Brianna Davis 6, Nadia Talukdar 3. 

Up next: Sir Winston faces A.N. Myer Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Simcoe in the championship final.