Irish power into BPSN semifinals
Ava Briggs missed getting to play high school basketball last season.
“It was hard to see my friends going to play and my sister was on the team but I just did what I could,” the 15-year-old said Wednesday, after helping her team knock off the Governor Simcoe Redcoats 57-17 in championship quarter-final action at the Third Annual BPSN Girls Basketball Tournament.
Briggs played the past two seasons with the Niagara Prep junior team and this year she will be suiting up for the Niagara Juel Prep squad.
“This is my first time playing school ball and I am enjoying it,” she said.
Briggs feels she plays a similar role at the travel and high school levels. Despite being in Grade 10, she is comfortable being a leader on her team.
“It is encouraging each other and working together to build each other up instead of being demanding.”
On the court, she feels her role is to distribute the ball.
“I feel I am a good playmaker and I look to make good passes. I also feel that I play defence well.”
She would rather pass the ball than score.
“I think an assist is a good thing. If I don’t have a good shot and my teammate has a better shot, it’s better to pass it than just throw it up.”
Irish head coach Kristen Dean loves what Briggs brings to the team.
“She is a very great defensive player, she is one of the point guards and she sets up the offence. She is a great team player. We rely on her to be a leader on the floor.”
Briggs credits Jump Thru Hoops out of Toronto and coaches Shomari McGee and Sheron Lau.
“I definitely learned how to be a team leader and confident player playing with them. It was an experience with basketball that, although brief, made me the best player I can be for Notre Dame.”
The Irish took charge of the game early, leading 15-3 after one quarter, and they never looked back
“They played really well as a team and defensively which is our strong point,” Dean said. “We pushed the ball really well and the other team had a hard time getting set up on defence.”
She is looking forward to the rest of the tournament.
“We are sort of a young team and a lot of our players are in Grade 10 and they were some of our stronger players even last year in Grade 9. We are hoping to make it to Friday night and if we play our game we will.”
Governor Simcoe knew it was in tough against Notre Dame especially considering the circumstances heading into the game.
“We’re a young team and we got hit with the injury bug. We lost four key players, two injured, one with shin splints and one broke her toe, and two girls are missing due to a family matter,” Simcoe head coach John Ingribelli said. “What I try to teach girls in games like this is to play with a little more confidence, especially against teams that are aggressive. We find that we wilt or break down under pressure and that is something they need to figure out. Hopefully we will start growing as we move forward.”
The Redcoats have made it to the championship quarter-finals in several tournaments the last few seasons and Ingribelli is excited to see where the program is going.
“I am happy with the girls that came in this year. We have three Grade 9s who are contributing a lot and they are really starting to come along and buy into it,” he said. “They have never played this type of ball before but I lean on my juniors a lot this year.”
STATS PACK
Fighting Irish 57 Redcoats 17
Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Notre Dame’s Aleesah Adams with 10 points.
For the Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Adams 10; Ava Briggs 9; Camilla Moscato 8; Kyra DiGaetano 8; Nicole Dixon 8; Cassie Orr 6; Lila DiPietro 4; Abbey Grande 2; Lauryn Briggs 2;
For the Governor Simcoe Redcoats: Keira Teske 13; Madison Hollingworth 2; Tola Adewmi 2.
WOLFPACK 41 LYNX 10
The West Niagara Wolfpack punched its ticket into the consolation semifinals with a 41-10 victory over the Saint-Jean-de-Brebeuf Lynx.
Scoring for the Wolfpack were: Coco Van Nynatten 11; Ireland Lacroix-Hamilton 10; Harper MacQueen 8; Georgia Epifano 2; Melissa Persaud 2; Lizzy Claussen 2; Peyton Ransom 2; Karly Mellor 2; Kiera Baccus 2.
Scoring for the Lynx were Bethanie Irwin 6 and Alicia Coote 4.
The tournament is made possible with the help of Women Networking in Sports of Niagara, Tora Inc., Regional Doors and Hardware, Bromac Construction Inc., the Brock women’s basketball program, Alltech Automotive, St. Catharines CYO Basketball, Pelham Panthers basketball, Niagara Falls Red Raiders basketball, Niagara Rangers basketball, Lasting Images, the Niagara District Referees Association, the District School Board of Niagara and the Niagara Catholic District School Board.
