Lynx open OFSAA with victory
Isabelle Sinclair is hoping to end her high school basketball career with a flourish.
“It’s because of all the work we have put in throughout the four years and it would be so good for it to end well,” she said Thursday, after scoring 24 points to help the Jean Vanier Lynx open the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations’ A championship with a 57-42 triumph over the London Christian Pioneers. “I really want to do it for my team because we have been through so many ups and downs throughout the years, especially last year when we didn’t qualify for OFSAA.”
Not making it to the provincial championships has been a rare event for Sinclair and her Jean Vanier teammates. As a junior call-up, the 5-foot-9 forward won OFSAA gold in her Grade 9 year and silver in her Grade 10 year. Sinclair played her share of minutes at OFSAA in her first few years but this is the first time she is a starter and a crucial part of the team.
“I have to maintain a bigger leadership role and lead the girls because a lot of the girls are athletes who haven’t played a lot of basketball,” the 17-year-old said. “I am helping them throughout the game and pushing them.
“It has been really fun.”
It’s also really fun to get to play in an OFSAA championship on Vanier’s home court.
“It’s awesome,” she said. “It is so rare and I am so happy to have it here in my Grade 12 year.”
Jean Vanier head coach Tara Poulin has seen a lot of Sinclair on the court over the past few years.
“Isabelle and I are pretty close and I coach her on my JUEL team,” she said. “She drives me crazy and makes me happy as a coach all at the same time.”
Poulin loves how badly Sinclair wants to win but that desire makes her play out of control at times.
“She is sometimes over aggressive as you saw with the foul trouble today,” she said. “It’s getting her aware of and in more control of her body and if she is able to do that, she will have more success.”
Sinclair, who had four fouls in Thursday’s game, doesn’t disagree with her coach.
“I am trying to be less aggressive and just let my game speak and that is something I really need to work on,” she said.
Working hard is something that is part of Sinclair’s DNA.
“You won’t find a bigger gym rat than Isabelle.” Poulin said. “She is here every morning working on her game.”
Sinclair has been talking to a few Ontario universities about their basketball programs, but she needs to figure out what she wants to study and then pick a school that is a fit for academics and athletics.
“I’m not really sure what I want to do later on and I feel like I need to figure that out first.”
Brock might be on her list.
“I am open to that because I am not sure if I want to go away,” Sinclair said.
Poulin was happy with Thursday’s win, but she wants to see more from her team.
“We have things to work on and if we want to make it to Saturday, we have to clean up our defence,” she said. “Our girls work hard every second but against bigger teams, we have to learn to box out as a team and that was lacking.
“We never had five girls boxing out together and it cost us because half of their points were on offensive rebounds.”
Poulin has taken many teams to OFSAA and says there are no secrets to success in the pressure-packed tournament.
“In the past, all of our OFSAA champions were defence first,” she said. “We have that ability to stop people defensively, but we just have to get everyone awake and consistent.
“If we can have defensively sound games at OFSAA, we can have success.”
The OFSAA tournament is being played at Jean Vanier and the new community centre in Pelham.
STATS PACK
Lynx 57 Pioneers 42
Mick and Angelo’s/Johnny Rocco’s/Cracker Jacks Player of the Game: Vanier’s Andrea Hebert and Isabelle Sinclair with 24 points each.
For the Jean Vanier Lynx: Hebert and Sinclair 24; Ariel Wendling 4; Alyssa Arcand 3; Talissa Pouliot 2.
For the London Christian Pioneers: Miranda teBokkel 14; Keira Wiersema 9; Julianna Dieleman 7.
Up next: Vanier plays in the second round Friday at 11 a.m. at Jean Vanier.
