Thunder roar past Irish
The defence rests with Sophia Cino.
The 14-year-old, Grade 10 student takes pride in her defence, almost to a fault.
“Sometimes I get mad at her because I think she can be more of a force offensively, but she’s just happy to do what we ask her to do,” Blessed Trinity coach John Cino said. “Her job was to shut down five (Thea Lawson) and she could have cared less if she scored a point.”
The Thunder came up with perhaps their best overall defensive effort of the season as they shutdown the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 49-18 in the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association AAA senior girls basketball final Friday at BT.
The Thunder now advance to the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association (SOSSA) playdowns next week in Saltfleet. The OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations) championships are being hosted by Sir Winston Churchill in St. Catharines.
Sophia Cino agrees with her father that scoring is not at the top of her list of priorities.
“I don’t score a lot in games but I really contribute defensively and I think that’s my role on the team,” he said.
She said playing great defence comes down to commitment.
“I don’t think it’s hard necessarily, you just have to put in everything you’ve got every minute of the game,” she said. “It’s obviously challenging but I don’t think of it as something hard, I just put everything I have into it out there.”
Sophia Cino is also a cross country runner — she placed 18th at OFSAA this season — and that conditioning plays a big part in her ability to defend.
“She is really athletic,” John Cino said. “She is the most athletic player on our team. She’s gotten stronger and she is determined.
“She had a steal right at the beginning and that kind of set the tone for the game.”
The Thunder led 10-4 after the first quarter and 21-13 at the half. They really buckled down in the third and didn’t permit the Irish a single point.
“I told them that was one of the best defensive games I’ve ever seen a team play,” John Cino said. “They (Notre Dame) didn’t score a point in the third quarter and only scored five in the second half.”
Coach Cino was also particularly happy to see his three graduating players — Tia Pucci, Kaelin Sutor Maddie Smukovic — be able to continue their careers.
Notre Dame coach Pat O’Leary didn’t have to be reminded it can be difficult to win scoring only five points in a half.
“We’ve struggled shooting the ball all year and they definitely played great defence and made it hard for us to score,” he said. “They also seemed to hit most of their shots.”
O’Leary did enjoy the season and getting back on the court.
“It was great. They were a respectful bunch and we did improve. I know it doesn’t show in the last game but we did improve over the year and I’m really proud of them.”
STATS PACK
Thunder 49 Fighting Irish 18
Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Blessed Trinity Thunder guard Sophia Cino who played solid defence all game.
For the Blessed Trinity Thunder: Cino 3; Maggie Vukojev 13; Tia Pucci 9; Kaelin Sutor 5; Abby Iannotta 5; Lucy Whaling 5; May Ann Empil 3; Jaylin Nklas 3; Maddie Smukovic 2.
For the Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Thea Lawson 7; Ella Peters 5; Kylie Brousseau 2; Abby Grande 2; Nicole Dixon 1; Kyra Digaetaro 1.
Up next: The Thunder advance to the SOSSA AAA playdowns next week at Saltfleet. OFSAA will be hosted by Sir Winston Churchill in St. Catharines.
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