Niagara Juel team opens league play
The Niagara JUEL girls basketball team got off to slow start in league play, dropping all three of the games it played this past weekend.
Niagara fell 72-57 to the Thunder Bay Wolves, 105-57 to Hamilton Transway and 70-63 to Halton.
“It was a tough weekend for us after the break. We still had a lot positives and did not get the results we wanted but there was a lot of growth,” Niagara head coach Si Khounviseth said.
Niagara trailed Thunder Bay 20-8 after one quarter and 45-19 at the half.
“Game 1 was very disappointing as we came out flat and did not compete in the first half. We showed up in the second half but the gap was too big to overcome,” he said. “As coaches we sort of knew the first game back was going to be tough and based on our practices leading up to it we kinda knew. It was a good learning game and gives us coaches some traction about how we need to come and prepare at practice.”
Top performers against Thunder Bay were: Emma Vendittelli (A.N. Myer) with 13 points and four rebounds; Reese Bolibruck with seven points; Ava Froese (Smithville Christian) with six points and nine rebounds; Annika Rigby (Eden) with five points and eight rebounds; and, Alyah Pereira (Westdale) with five points and six rebounds.
Transway built quarter leads of 33-12, 59-26 and 85-45 to knock off Niagara.
“I thought we responded well against the No. 1 team in Transway. The score did not reflect that the team competed and did some really good things that we can build on and learn from,” Khounviseth said.
Leading the way for Niagara against Transway were: Froese with 13 points and six rebounds; Keira Teske (Governor Simcoe) with six points; and, Pereira with six points.
Against Halton, Niagara trailed 22-9 after the first quarter.
“We can out flat again in the third game but had a chance to win in the last minute of the game but what has been costing us all year with unforced turnovers hurt us,” he said. “Overall, we will get back in the gym and continue to grow as a team. We are making positive progress.”
Topping the stat sheet for Niagara against Halton were: Bolibruck with 14 points and six boards; Teske with 11 points and six rebounds; Lauren Smith (St. Jean de Brébeuf) with nine points; Froese with six points and 10 rebounds; and, Pereira and Grace MacDonald (St. John Henry Newman) with six points.
