1-1 weekend for Niagara JUEL
It was an up and down weekend for the Niagara JUEL girls basketball team.
The squad opened with a 61-45 victory over the Tri-County Soldiers and then dropped a 71-44 decision to Halton.
“It was a tale of two different games. We had a really solid first game and I thought we played defence like how we want to play. That has been our focus and the offence will come but was very pleased with our compete and effort. Our commitment to defence was key,” Niagara head coach Si Khounviseth said.
It was a different story against Halton.
“The second game was just a complete opposite. We did not defend and we just did not give effort. We struggled to shoot the ball. We had open looks and easy layups that we just plain missed,” he said. “We generated enough to have a chance to win. Even our free throws were not good (13-34). I was just disappointed with our effort and compete level in the second game. I was expecting we would carry the momentum of the first game as we were at times dominant defensively.”
Khounviseth is anything but discouraged.
“We will get back in the gym and continue to work and get better. We now have a level we know we can get to defensively.”
Niagara got off to a quick start against Tri-County, leading 17-5 after one quarter before the Soldiers rallied to tie the game 26-26 at the half. Niagara outscored Tri-County 35-19 in the second half to record the victory. Niagara shot 25.8 per cent for the game and Tri-County shot at a 21.1 per cent clip.
Top performers for Niagara against Tri-County were: Emma Vendittelli (A.N. Myer) with 12 points and four rebounds; Grace MacDonald (St. John Henry Newman) with 10 points and seven rebounds; Alena Tepsic (Saltfleet) with eight points and four rebounds; Lauren Smith (St Jean de Brébeuf) with eight points and three rebounds; Keira Teske (Governor Simcoe) with six points and five rebounds; Amelia Siolkowsky (E.L. Crossley) with six points and seven rebounds; and, Reese Bolibruck with six points.
Against Niagara, Halton built quarter leads of 13-11, 37-21 and 49-34 to record the win. Halton shot 32.5 per cent for the game and Niagara shot 21.2 per cent.
Topping the stat sheet for Niagara were: MacDonald with 11 points and four rebounds; Bolibruck with seven points and five rebounds; Teske with five points and four rebounds; Tepsic with five points and three rebounds; Alyah Pereira (Westdale) with five points; and, Vendittelli with four points and nine rebounds.
Niagara’s next home games will come March 2 against the top two teams in the league. Niagara will play the London Ramblers at 10:30 a.m. in Notre Dame’s Dillon Hall and Hamilton Transway at 4:30 p.m. in the same gym.
