Unbeaten weekend for Niagara Juel
It was a perfect weekend for the Niagara Juel girls basketball team.
The squad went 3-0 by defeating the York North Avengers 83-67, the Brampton Warriors 48-38 and the St. Lawrence Lightning 66-49.
“It was a great weekend for the players. Our defence all weekend was outstanding,” Niagara head coach Si Khounviseth said. “Overall just a character building weekend. Making plays to win and just dominant defensively at times. I am so happy for our players. We have been hard on them, demanding of them and challenging them. Their hard work is paying off and we see growth in each individual player. The team growth has been exciting to watch and the credit goes to the players to how they have responded to our coaching.”
In defeating York North, Niagara built quarter leads of 22-11, 43-27 and 70-37.
“We started Game 1 with purpose and execution and it reflected in how we just dominated the game from start to finish,” he said.
Top performers for Niagara versus York North were: Emma Vendittelli (A.N. Myer) with 31 points; Alyah Pereira (Westdale) with eight points; Annika Rigby (Eden) with seven points and seven rebounds; Alena Tepsic (Saltfleet) with seven points; Amelia Siolkowsky (E.L. Crossley) with six points and six boards; and Grace MacDonald (St. John Henry Newman) with six points.
Versus Brampton, Niagara trailed 14-13 after one quarter and led 29-21 at the half and 35-31 after three quarters.
“Game 2 was just a grind with no flow as it was so difficult to adjust to the calls being made,” Khounviseth said. “I thought our players did a great job as we had multiple players get into foul trouble. I thought the players really willed themselves into the win.”
Playing well for Niagara against Brampton were: Reese Bolibruck (West Niagara) with 12 points and five rebounds; Vendittelli with 11 points; Keira Teske (Governor Simcoe) and Jessica Sager (St. John Henry Newman) with six points; and, MacDonald with four points and seven rebounds.
In the win over St. Lawrence, Niagara led 16-10 after one quarter and trailed 29-26 at the half. Niagara then put the game away by outscoring St. Lawrence 40-20 in the second half.
“We struggled right from the start of the game and our bench players really stepped it up and brought us back into the game and put us into the lead midway through the third period after we were down eight points,” he said. “It was just a great way to end the weekend.”
Leading the way for Niagara were: Vendittelli with 16 points; Bolibruck with nine points; MacDonald with seven points; Ava Froese (Smithville Christian) with six points and 13 boards; and, Rigby with six points.
