Host Storm perfect at OFSAA Thursday
Nicholson beat University of Toronto Schools 58-39 on the first day of play at the OFSAA senior girls A basketball tournament at Smithville Christian. The host Storm are 2-0 after the first day of round-robin play.
The host Smithville Christian Storm took care of business on the opening day of the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations A championships, going a perfect 2-0 in round-robin play.
The third-seeded Storm opened with a 46-20 victory over sixth-seeded Hagersville Thursday morning and then defeated 10th-seeded Almaguin 67-16 at night.
Leading the way for the Storm against Almaguin were Daniella Zondag (16), Tori Hultink (12), Jacoba Hoekstra (10), Kyra Van Geest (10), Alia Breukelman (6), Brooke Gilpin (6), Regina Mushegera (5) and Morgan Vanstaalduinen (2).
“We are very happy,” Storm assistant coach Derrick DeKlerk said. “It was great to see good defence, we were able to spread the ball around and lots of girls stepped up and played really well.”
He is hoping for more of the same Friday when the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association champions wrap up pool play in their home gym.
“We have to make sure we give the girls plenty of rest throughout the games and throughout the day so that they are ready for a long tournament,” DeKlerk said. “And we have to play good, smart defence to conserve our energy.”
Head coach Tawnia Hultink saw her team be much more relaxed in their second game compared to its opener.
“The second game was very nice and we got to play everybody,” she said. “We came out really strong and it was a good confidence booster for the girls.”
Storm 46 Hurricanes 20
Smithville Christian built quarter leads of 12-8, 23-10 and 39-14 Thursday morning on the way to a 46-20 victory over the Hagersville Hurricanes.
Scoring for the Storm were Zondag (20), Tori Hultink (10), Hoekstra (8), Breukelman (2), Mushegera (4) and Van Geest (2).
Hagersville was led by J. Dawson with 8 and H. Howarth with 6.
“We haven’t played for so long because of COVID and we had some first-game jitters,” Tawnia Hultink said. “They were very nervous because OFSAA is new to them. Most of them last played in Grade 9.”
The Storm eventually found their way.
“They worked through it each quarter,” she said. “We are excited to be here and thankful to be playing.”
On Friday at Smithville Christian, the Storm plays second seed Roland Michener at 10:30 a.m. and seventh seed Saint Trinity at 6:30 p.m. The top two teams from each pool advance to the semifinals.
Those semifinals will be held Saturday morning at Smithville Christian and Grimsby Secondary School and both medals games will be played at Smithville. The bronze medal game will be at 2 p.m. and the gold medal game is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
All game are being livestreamed. The link can be found at https://www.ofsaa.on.ca/girls-basketball.
