Bulldogs ready for SOSSA challenge
The Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs senior girls basketball team know it’s in a battle to even get a chance at trying to win a fourth straight Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations medal.
Churchill, who won OFSAA AAA bronze in 2021, AA gold in 2022 and AA bronze in 2023, will be in tough at the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association playdowns Thursday at E.L. Crossley. To make the final, the Bulldogs have to get past the unbeaten Niagara Catholic Athletic Association champion Lakeshore Catholic Gators in the semifinals. On the other side of the bracket lurks E.L. Crossley, a team Churchill beat in the BPSN Girls Basketball Tournament final but lost twice to in the Niagara Region High School Athletic Association regular season.
Churchill is no stranger to SOSSA adversity. Last season, they trailed E.L. Crossley for most of their semifinal game before eking out a 39-37 win. In the final, the Bulldogs had to mount a furious fourth-quarter comeback to knock off the Dundas Valley Gryphons 51-49.
“This year is going to be quite the challenge and I am not overlooking anybody, that’s for sure,” Churchill head coach Frank Keltos said.
He has confidence that his team has the tools to succeed.
“We have a lot of experience on this team,” he said, adding the core of the squad went to junior SOSSA in Grade 9 and 10, winning in its second appearance.
“Plus the majority of the girls all played last year and battled through the turmoil of last year’s SOSSA. They also took the experience they gained at OFSAA last year to make us battle-tested for the big stage or the big game. We are not playing the greatest right now and we could be playing better but our experience will hopefully pay dividends in the games on Thursday.”
Keltos feels his team’s late-season struggles were the result of overconfidence.
“We played our (zone) finals a little too relaxed and had that feeling ‘We’re going to win and we just need to put our jersey on and strap our shoes on.’ The other team came in knowing that it could possibly be their last game. We have to have a little bit more urgency and hopefully that’s what we bring to the table at SOSSA as it gives us another opportunity to compete at the OFSAA championships.”
Keltos doesn’t need to remind any of his players of the historic OFSAA roll the Churchill program is on.
“They all know that this has been a great run that we have been on and that it’s another great opportunity for them. They are not going to go down lightly but they have to trust each other, continue to battle, win every possession and understand that each game is going to be tough.”
After going 5-3 in NRHSAA regular season action, the Bulldogs advanced to SOSSA with a 44-32 victory last week over the Governor Simcoe Redcoats in the Zone 4 final.
STATS PACK
Bulldogs 44 Redcoats 32
For the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs: Marlowe Zekan 12; Morgan Barker 8; Addison Torigian 7; Norah Hoff 6; Kiera Pink 6; Anya Namestnik 4; and, Shannen Short 2. Other members of the championship team are Sarah Chapman, Kayleigh DiGirolamo, Mya Gaudreault, Sydney Jones, Mackenzie Munro-Flora, Izabella Peeler and Victoria Rice-Strati.
For the Governor Simcoe Redcoats: Kiera Teske 15; Taliyah Washington 11; Elca Nura 4; Lily Hoogendam 2.
Up next: Churchill advances to the SOSSA AA championships Thursday at E.L. Crossley where it will play Lakeshore Catholic in the semifinals at 9 a.m. The final is scheduled for 4 p.m.
