Perfect weekend for Niagara Juel
It was an excellent weekend for the Niagara Juel girls basketball team.
“We went into this weekend with one goal to win three games to keep ourselves in the top five in the league and we came out with three wins,” Niagara head coach Frank Keltos said. “I was very proud of the girls sustaining their focus and playing hard in three hard-fought games. We had contributions from our bench and our starters continue to play at a high level.”
Niagara nows goes on an extended break.
“We are now off for three weeks with Easter and are going to be ready for the end of the year push and hope to make it into a medal game,” he said.
Niagara defeated Blessed Sacrament 80-69, Tri-County Soldiers 69-64 and the London Ramblers 62-53.
Against Blessed Sacrament, Niagara built quarter leads of 22-9, 48-28 and 66-46. Top performers were: Jamie Addy (Governor Simcoe) with 16 points and seven rebounds; Yemi Oladipo (Sir Winston Churchill) with 13 points and six boards; Ava Stranges (Saint Paul) with 12 points; Kaitlyn Brophy (E.L. Crossley) with 11 points and six rebounds; Anna Deliyannis (Eden) with 10 points; and, Brookelyn Keltos (Sir Winston Churchill) with nine points.
In the win over Tri-County, Niagara trailed 29-24 after one quarter, led 42-41 at the half and was tied 52-52 heading into the final quarter. Topping the stat sheet were: Oladipo with 18 points and five rebounds; Keltos with 17 points; Stranges with 15 points, including 9-9 from the free throw line; and, Emma Hemphill (Notre Dame) with eight points.
Against the Ramblers, Niagara built quarter leads of 23-10, 41-22 and 55-39 to record the victory. Leading the way for Niagara were: Oladipo with 12 points and nine boards; Stranges with 12 points; Keltos with 10 points and eight rebounds; Addy with eight points; and, Joanna Smith (Holy Trinity in Simcoe) with eight points.
JUEL PREP
After handing the two top teams in the league their first losses of the season, the Niagara Juel team returned to action with a 60-44 loss to Vaughan.
“I know we as a team have so much more potential than what happened on the court today,” Niagara Juel head coach Kristy-Anne Wytenburg said. “The competitive grind wasn’t conveyed.”
Vaughan built quarter leads of 19-15, 29-20 and 51-32 to record the victory. Top performers for Niagara were: Emma Venditelli (A.N. Myer) with 12 points and 15 boards; Keira Teske (Governor Simcoe) with eight points and nine rebounds; Rozlyn Ciocca (Saint Francis) with seven points and six rebounds; Shorleigh Burrows (Eden) with seven points; and, Anya Namestnik (Sir Winston Churchill) with eight rebounds.
