Bulldogs survive a scare

In a game that fit the billing of being closer than the final score indicated, the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs won the Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Zone 4 senior girls AA basketball championship Wednesday afternoon with a 44-27 victory over the visiting Thorold Golden Eagles.

Thorold trailed 8-7 after one quarter and led 15-14 at the half before the Bulldogs took control late in the third quarter and led 29-21 heading into the final eight minutes.

“They hung around. I am not sure if we had a lot of jitters but all year we have missed a lot of easy stuff,” Churchill head coach Frank Keltos said. “I wasn’t sure when it was going to bite us in the butt and I thought it was going to happen today. I told them at the half that it was out of my hands and they had to make those easy buckets.”

It took awhile but it happened.

“We had a big spark in the second half with Kayleigh DiGirolamo and Mya Pupek in the middle. It was a lineup we hadn’t had and we managed to somehow get some rebounds and it was a different look, he said. “And we made some shots.”

Anya Namestnik made some of those shots when she went 3-3 from the free-throw line with 10.8 seconds left in the third quarter to give her squad a 29-21 lead. They seemed to be the shots that broke Thorold’s back.

“It was big because she has missed some earlier free throws. It was a big lift for her and gave her confidence seeing the ball go through the rim,” Keltos said.

Namestnik and point guard Kate Smyth have a great partnership on the floor.

“The two are of them are great. They have been playing together now for three years and it is a good mix. I can’t complain about having the two of them,” Keltos said.

The 16-year-old Namestnik agreed the game was a little too close for the Bulldogs’ liking.

“I was getting really stressed out. I know our abilities and it felt like a pretty rough game for us,” the Grade 11 student said. “But we are going to come back stronger for the next one.”

It was a good lesson for the Bulldogs even if came late in the season

“We should always come full on, 100 per cent no matter who we are playing. I feel we underestimated their abilities and they really came out hard and showed how good of a team they are,” she said.

Namestnik believes Churchill has made progress.

“At the beginning of the season, we didn’t know how to work together and I feel that we really have that bond now where we know each other well, we connect and we know what each other is doing.”

That connection is especially strong between her and Smyth.

“We have grown to be close teammates and we know each other as players and each other’s strengths. Whenever we say something to each other we always know how to come out the other end.”

Thorold looked like they eventually got tired against a deeper and more seasoned Churchill squad.

“We don’t have the depth and the starters can only go for so long but they gave it everything they had. We just ran out of steam. It wasn’t that the girls didn’t know what they were doing,” Thorold head coach Andrew Thompson said. “I was hoping for a quarter and they gave us three. It was phenomenal.”

He knew his team needed to be at its best to win.

“That is an experienced team over there. They were the No 1 seed at your (BPSN) tournament and they are the defending OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations) gold medalists so for us to hang with them, I am very, very proud of the girls.”

Thompson saw lots of progress with his team this year.

“We started to look like a basketball team. We moved the ball around, we were working a zone, we were attacking and doing all the things that we haven’t been able to do for a couple of years. It was a lot of fun to watch.”

It will be back to the drawing board next season for the Golden Eagles.

“Unfortunately a lot of Grade 12s are leaving but we still have Kaydence (Hales) and we have some Grade 11s who have improved along the way,” Thompson said. “It will be a retool.”

Churchill now advances to the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools semifinals

“I like where we are and today we had a bad shooting performance and that is just basketball,” Keltos said. “We have nine girls that I can roll in and every game is different. I have my steady in Anya and Kate and they come every game. I like what the matchups are and we will see what happens.”

STATS PACK

Bulldogs 44 Golden Eagles 27

Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Churchill’s Kate Smyth with 15 points and a strong game at point guard.

For the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs: Anya Namestnik 16; Smith 15; Sydney Jones 6; Mya Pupek 3; Kayleigh DiGirolamo 2; Norah Hoff 2.

For the Thorold Golden Eagles: Kaydence Hales 10; Anna Hammond 5; Ashley Mayhew 4; Portia Watts 4; Marissa Hahl 3; Layla Gallant 1.

Up next: Churchill advances to the SOSSA championships next Thursday at Holy Cross.