Beware the BPSN top-seeded Bulldogs
Opposing senior girls basketball teams thinking it is their turn to be the best in Niagara are probably in for a rude awakening when the BPSN Girls Basketball Tournament kicks off this Tuesday.
Despite the graduation of four starters, Bulldogs head coach Frank Keltos is calling it a reload instead of a rebuild for the defending Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations AA champions.
“We are double A again this year and our aspirations are to win,” he said. “We are hoping to advance to OFSAA again, try to get a Top 8 seed and see what happens. We have depth and we have good athletes. We are a good team but it is really hard to tell what other teams have lost.”
There is definitely a different feel about the team this season.
“It’s a big adjustment this year losing the kids that we did in the four starters but it is a different excitement because we are all good athletes and there’s a lot of good basketball players,” he said. “It is really hard to replace the size, experience and scoring that we lost but they are all excited about figuring it out.”
Opportunities are there to be seized.
“The first thing I said to them on Day 1 is ‘We lost four starters so you guys step up and figure out who is going to be those four starters.’ You could start to see in practice who was trying really hard, working, trying to be a team player and work the systems. It is early but it is pretty exciting,” Keltos said.
Leading the way for the Bulldogs is returning point guard Kate Smyth, who is better at soccer but is pretty darn good at basketball too.
“She is a smart athlete, super fast and very focused. My biggest thing for her is that I need her to score where last year she ran the show and gave up the ball.”
Anya Namestnik will be the next scoring threat.
“She is super athletic, long and very unassuming but she can score in bunches,” he said.
Morgan Baker is expected to take another step after playing up at senior last year.
Other notables are: Kiera Pink, who is coming back from an ACL injury; and, Mya Pupek, a volleyball player who is super athletic and with some size.
There are also 10 girls moving up from last year’s Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association championship squad, including Sarah Hardy, Sydney Jones and Norah Hoff.
“There is a great crop of kids there,” Keltos said.
He is excited to see what Barker can bring to the table this year.
“Morgan, a lefty, has grown and she is starting to get confidence and becoming a quiet leader. She is a little different than her sister Megan. She has a really good shot, she finishes well around the rim and she has already talked to me about expectations for this year and then next year. She has a plan and her plan is to win.”
The 16-year-old Grade 11 student learned valuable lessons playing at the senior level in 2022.
“It was a real cool experience to see how the older girls were a team together and how well they worked together,” she said. “It brought up my confidence being able to see how everyone else worked together and how I helped in ways even though I wasn’t a star player.”
She is excited about 2023.
“I played with a lot of the girls like Kiera, Anya and Sarah since I was little and I feel that we will still have really good chemistry. We definitely lost a lot of great talent but with Kate back we will still have a great season.”
She believes she is ready to take her game to the next level this season.
“I am a little nervous but with the coaching of Mr. Keltos and Mr. (Adam) Onclin, I will be able to do it as well as help my teammates. I am working towards hopefully starting this year with the help of my teammates and the extra practice.”
She has been putting in the effort to get better.
“Working on my stamina and my shooting will really improve it and I really want to have good chemistry with a lot of the girls because this year’s starting five has not played together. We need to work out a couple of kinks.”
Thankfully this year, she has some extra size at her disposal.
“In Grade 7, I was 4-foot-9 and in Grade 9 I was 5-foot-2. Now I am about 5-foot-8. Since Grade 9, I have grown about five inches.”
Barker appreciates Keltos’ description of her as a leader and agrees it is a different leadership style than her older sister.
“We are not opposites but she was very vocal all the time. I am more behind the scenes leader. Not that she wasn’t but I am uplifting and I help bring the team together.”
The tournament is made possible with the help of Women Networking in Sports of Niagara, Tora Inc., Regional Doors and Hardware, Bromac Construction Inc., the Brock women’s basketball program, Alltech Automotive, St. Catharines CYO Basketball, Pelham Panthers basketball, Niagara Falls Red Raiders basketball, Niagara Rangers basketball, the Niagara District Referees Association, the District School Board of Niagara and the Niagara Catholic District School Board.
