Cougars advance to BPSN consolation finals
Centennial’s Emily Campbell is ready to make the most of her final year of high school basketball.
“I want to have fun, play hard and get into the university I want to get into,” the 17-year-old said Thursday, after scoring 11 points to lead her team to a 51-37 victory over the Saint Paul Patriots in the consolation semifinals of the First BPSN Girls Basketball Tournament. “I’m looking to play university basketball but I will see what comes my way.”
Centennial coach Kate Harpur loved what the Grade 12 player did Thursday.
“Emily had a great game today and she did it on both ends of the floor,” he said. “She played tough defensively and she started the game for us by getting us all our points.”
Campbell had seven early points to help her team lead 17-8 after the first quarter.
It’s a performance Harpur has come to expect.
“She is a great kid and she works hard every day,” she said. “Today she worked extremely hard.”
Campbell used to divide her sporting time between basketball and being a keeper in travel soccer, but the Niagara JUEL roster member decided to focus on the hardcourt about a year ago.
“It was the demands of basketball,” she said. “I needed to be more committed and working in the summer on basketball.”
She plans to work hard on her game during the school year and throughout the travel season.
“I want to be a better rebounder, be more of a threat on offence and just keep up my defensive game and not let people get in.”
The Patriots fell behind 17-9 after one quarter Thursday and couldn’t recover.
“We got off to a slow start. They pressed us and it caused a lot of turnovers,” Saint Paul head coach Josh Lennox said. “We have a young team — one Grade 9 and two Grade 10s on the court — and we just couldn’t make up the difference.”
Saint Paul didn’t help itself in its offensive play.
“We missed a lot of easy shots and that’s just concentration,” Lennox said.”It might just be nerves with a young team.”
Harpur was happy with her team’s performance against Saint Paul.
“We played well,” she said. “We are starting to come into how we can play. We had a rough start but this week has been really good for us.”
Centennial’s success hasn’t come by accident.
“The girls are just working hard on both ends of the floor,” Harpur said. “Someimes we have goods offensive games and sometimes we would have a good defensive game and not a whole game.
“This week, we have had both and it has been good.”
Campbell has also seen improvements in the Cougars’ play.
“I think we just lit a fire under our butts and kicked it into gear,” she said. “The first couple of games were just a warmup and now we are really ready.”
STATS PACK
Cougars 51 Patriots 37
Mick and Angelo’s/Johnny Rocco’s/Cracker Jacks Players of the Game: Centennial’s Emily Campbell with 11 points and Saint Paul’s Keira Federinko with 13 points.
For the Centennial Cougars: Campbell 11; Jessica Acaster 8; Abby Bullet 8; Jayda Rodrigue 7; Eden Vince 7; Jessica Gibson 4; Sarah Stayzer 4; Klaire Marr 2.
For the Saint Paul Patriots: Federinko 13; Hanna Dino 12; Livia Piccirillo 6; Brooke Lennox 4; Maia MacLean 2.
The First BPSN Girls Basketball Tournament has been made possible thanks to the generous support of: Tora Inc: Niagara Rangers; No Limit Performance: St. Catharines Rebels in recognition of all their volunteers who make the organization a success; Niagara Falls Red Raiders; Alltech Automotive; Niagara District Referees Association; Brock University women’s basketball program; Pelham Panthers; Alison’s Sports Awards and Promotions; and, the Niagara College women’s basketball program.
