Bulldogs advance to semifinals

Sir Winston Churchill head coach Frank Keltos feels Anya Namestnik has only scratched the surface of her potential.

The 16-year-old, Grade 11 student poured in 17 points to pace the Bulldogs past the St. Francis Phoenix 54-23 in a championship round quarter-final game at the BPSN High School Girls Basketball Tournament Wednesday at Sir Winston.

The top-seeded Bulldogs now face Blessed Trinity Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Governor Simcoe in the semifinals. The A.N. Myer Marauders square off versus Notre Dame in the other semifinal at 6 p.m. with the winners meeting Friday night at 7:30 p.m for the championship.

“She’s super athletic and super long and if you were watching the game she’s just as smooth as silk,” Keltos said of Namestnik. “When she’s going to the rim, hard, it’s two points. It doesn’t matter. No one is stopping her. I don’t even think she trusts herself. She’s only beginning to realize what she wants.”

Keltos feels Namestnik is a key cog in the new-look Bulldogs who graduated several players from last season’s squad.

“She’s a big part of it, her and Kate (Smyth) running the show and Norah (Hoff) inside is super athletic.”

Namestnik, who is concentrating on studies this year after playing at the club level with Juel Prep and the Niagara Girls Basketball Academy, doesn’t mind being a leader despite still having one season of eligibility remaining.

“Returning as a senior, I look at myself as a leader and try to push my teammates to do better,” she said. 

She continues to work on her game.

“I feel like I’m a great passer and I help my teammates stay motived. I feel like shooting could be better, but that’s pretty good as well.”

Namestnik would love to play at the post-secondary level, but still has ample time to figure that out.

“Obviously, that would be a really amazing opportunity. I haven’t really looked into it that much yet,” she said.

Namestnik said the Bulldogs didn’t take the Phoenix for granted despite the seedings.

“We know they have a lot of great girls on that team so we tried to work as a team to beat them,” she said.

Keltos is viewing the tournament as a building block.

“We have a big group of girls who just want to play and they’re athletic kids,” he said. “I’m just happy. We got better today. It’s Oct. 4 so keep getting better and work together and let everyone get into the game and understand their roles and go from there.”

St. Francis co-coach Ava Hitchcock said her charges weren’t intimidated by the Bulldogs.

“We tried to press them hard from the beginning,” she said. “We were up in the first quarter and you could tell they were getting a little nervous. We were doing our press really well and we tried to have a hard defence on them.”

STATS PACK

Bulldogs 54 Phoenix 23

Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Anya Namestnik with 17 points.

For the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs: Namestnik (17), Kate Smyth (10), Kyra Pink (10), Norah Hoff (5), Morgan Barker (5), Mya Pupek (2), Sydney Jones (2), Shannen Short (1), Ayla Namestnik (1).

For the St. Francis Phoenix: Alice Ayvazian (5), Kyla Pylypiw (5), Kaylee Giesbrecht (4), Rozlyn Ciocca (3), Alysha Kryzanowski (3), Sydney Chavez (2), Riyana Chahoud (1).

CONSOLATION

Golden Eagles 47 Raiders 21

Kaydence Hales poured in 19 as the Thorold Golden Eagles topped the Holy Cross Raiders to advance to the consolation semifinals.

Also scoring Thorold were: Hannah Guignard (6), Anna Hammond (6), Ashley Mayhew (4), Layla Gallant (4), Tiana Hicks (2), Portia Watts (2),Marissa Hahl (2) and Kylah Gallant (2).

Holy Cross Raiders: Leah Briscall (13), Mairead Newhouse (6) and Grace Cherney (2).