Niagara Juel 1-2 at championship weekend
The Niagara Juel girls basketball team went 1-2 at this past weekend’s season-ending tournament in Niagara.
Niagara defeated the Thunder Bay Wolves 67-63 and lost 102-50 to Transway and 59-49 to the Tri-County Soldiers.
“It was a tough weekend as we felt like we could have reached our goal of going 2-1 but came up short in our last game,” Niagara head coach Si Khounviseth said. “This weekend did not define our season as I thought we had a great year from where we started at the year and knowing what we were up against.”
The team won 10 regular season games and he felt the team could have won 15 if it had made its layups, free throws and limited its unforced turnovers.
“It was a challenging year having 14 players to rotate through and I thought we did the best we could. It was a big learning year for both the players and coaches. It was a brand new team that came together with new coaches. It was all new and lots to learn,” Khounviseth said. “We saw our players develop and some took huge strides in their personal development as players. We as coaches learned about the league and our returning players. We will be working hard this off season to prepare for next year. Our players are committed to winning and will train hard all summer to get ready. We are excited about where our program is heading.”
Graduating players who have committed to play post secondary ball are: Anna Deliyannis (Eden) to Mohawk; Lauren Smith (Brebeuf) to Lambton College; Alyah Pereira (Westdale) to Niagara College; and, Ava Froese (Smithville Christian) to Redeemer College.
Annika Rigby from Eden won league academic honours.
Against the Thunder Bay Wolves, Niagara trailed 18-14 after one quarter and 32-31 at the half before rallying for the victory.
“We started the game really tight and got down early but showed real will and fight and fought back to win the game. It was a big win for us. It was just a tough game to find any flow to the game trying to adjust to the calls and non-calls. I thought our players really battled and played through some adversity. We won despite going 11-32 from the free throw line,” Khounviseth said.
Top performers for Niagara were: Grace MacDonald (St. John Henry Newman) with 13 points; Alena Tepsic (Saltfleet) with 11 points; Emma Vendittelli (A.N. Myer) with seven points; Rigby and Siolkowsky (E.L. Crossley) with six points; and, Froese with five points and nine rebounds.
Versus Hamilton Transway, Niagara faced quarter deficits of 35-12, 57-16 and 77-35.
“We knew it would be a challenge playing the No. 1-ranked team and unbeaten team all year. Another slow start as we were missing easy layups and shots and just really did not battle and compete the way we needed to. I thought we really turned things around in the second half and turned up our intensity and gained some confidence and showed some fight,” Khounviseth said.
Leading the way for Niagara in the victory were: MacDonald with 12 points; Keira Teske (Governor Simcoe) with 10 points; Vendittelli with eight points and five rebounds; and, Tepsic with five points.
In the loss to Tri-County, Niagara led 14-12 after one quarter, trailed 30-27 at the half and led 43-39 heading into the final quarter.
“It was a very disappointing loss for the team. Another slow start with many missed opportunities that put us down seven in the first half. It just felt like one of those games where we were missing easy ones and they hit all kinds of tough end of the shot clock stuff,” Khounviseth said. “We did not help ourselves with poor rebounding and unforced turnovers throughout the game. We just wanted to get a win for our seniors. It was stuff that cost us games all year: Missed chances and unforced turnovers.”
Topping the stat sheet for Niagara versus Tri-County were: Vendittelli with 13 points; Tepsic with nine points; Teske with six points; and, Shorleigh Burrows (Eden) with five points and five boards.
