Niagara Juel Prep finishes strong
The Niagara Juel girls basketball league concluded its season last weekend in Niagara with a 1-2 record in the season-ending tournament.
Niagara lost 63-35 to Windsor St. Clair, defeated Ottawa Elite 56-45 and fell 72-63 to the Etobicoke Thunder.
“We played really well as a team in the final tournament,” Niagara head coach Kristy-Anne Wytenburg said. “We fell short in our first two games as we struggled with limiting turnovers.
She described Niagara’s third game as exciting.
“The girls worked hard together on defence and were able to control the pace of the game. Every athlete provided important minutes contributing to the win.”
Niagara made steady progress throughout the season.
“The biggest individual athlete progression would be confidence to attack the paint and developing their ability to play off two feet. The translation of this was very evident in our final winning game, a guard attacking the paint, collapsing the defence and making a quick pass to a teammate in the dunker spot to a left handed lay up,” Wytenburg said. “Our team’s first big progression was improving offensive movement, seeing the kick-out pass and attacking the paint multiple times in an offensive possession. Our second big progression was improving our ability to handle pressure when a team pressed us.”
The squad became a lot more consistent with its scoring towards the end of the season.
It was an enjoyable year for Wytenburg
“A few favourite moments of the season would be our team bonding sleepover night in Niagara Falls, seeing specific skills we work on in practice translate to a game, and my favourite seeing an incredible team defensive effort leading to shot clock violations.”
Rozlyn Ciocca and Hannah Braye were presented with Community Service Awards at the year-end banquet.
Against Windsor St. Clair, Niagara faced quarter deficits of 20-15, 33-19 and 46-32. Leading the way for Niagara were: Keira Teske (Governor Simcoe) with 12 points and seven rebounds; Ciocca (Saint Francis) with seven points; Emma Vendittelli (A.N. Myer) with five points and nine boards; and, Shorleigh Burrows (Eden) with five points.
Niagara built quarters leads of 10-7, 21-20 and 37-31 to record the victory against Ottawa. Top performers were: Teske with 17 points and 13 rebounds; Vendittelli with 15 points and seven rebounds; Burrows 10 points and five rebounds; and, Maggie Mannell (A.N. Myer) with eight points.
In the loss to Etobicoke, the game was tied 11-11 after one quarter, Etobicoke led 34-33 at the half and Niagara built a 53-51 lead heading into the final quarter. Tooping the stat sheet were: Teske with 22 points and 15 rebounds; Burrows with 14 points; Vendittelli with 13 points and 13 rebounds; and, Mannell with six points.
