Wright returns to Centennial
Alexis Wright is a women among girls playing for the Centennial Cougars senior girls basketball team.
The 5-foot-8 player was a force offensively and defensively Tuesday leading the Cougars to a 56-41 victory over the visiting A.N. Myer Marauders in Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Zone 3 play.
When the 17-year-old last played basketball in Grade 10, she was a member of a very good Niagara Prep squad competing in the Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association. The now Grade 12 student clearly held her own against the best players in the province as an OSBA rookie.
“It is definitely nice to be back with all my friends for my senior year and I decided I wanted to stay in Canada (to play university basketball) and that played a part in my decision,” she said.
Wright has narrowed her choice down to a few Ontario schools and is planning to make a decision in the near future. She is looking forward to making that choice and relaxing.
“I’m excited to go into the season without that stress and both schools that I am deciding between are very good academically and their basketball programs are excellent.”
Judging by the smile on her face during and after the game, Wright is clearly enjoying her last year as a Cougar.
“It is working as a team and if we get up by a bit it is finding girls that don’t get to score as much and don’t get the opportunities,” she said. “I think that is what high school basketball is all about and we are all having fun with it. We are also doing well on the court.”
After being focused solely on basketball at Niagara Prep, Wright is looking forward to playing other sports at Centennial. She is planning to play volleyball and compete once again in track and field. In Grade 9 at Centennial, she won a bronze medal at OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations) in discus.
“I am excited to be back playing multiple sports,” she said.
Wright will be playing with the Niagara Juel team this season and she likes how her game is rounding into form.
“I am performing at the level I want to play at,” she said.
Centennial head coach Craig Maltais is delighted to have her on his squad.
“She has got all the tools,” he said. “She can score when she needs to and she can facilitate for others. As the season goes on, she gets better and better.
“She has the passion, she has the desire to win but also she wants to win as a team. That is really important for a strong player like her.”
Centennial senior girls basketball has come out the pandemic the same way it entered it.
“We have a short bench but we have a lot of girls who play hard and are dedicated to coming to practice,” Maltais said. “We mostly have two or three on our bench but everyone is ready to go and everyone is ready to step up.”
Centennial improved to 4-2 in Zone 3 action while Myer fell to 1-4 with the loss.
Myer coach Ryan Zapata was impressed with Centennial.
“They are a very good team and they have a solid player in Alexis Wright,” he said. “For our girls, after a long hiatus of the pandemic, it takes a while to get the team playing together. But overall I like where we are at this point and we are going to get ready for the zone championship against Fort Erie and continue that run.”
Zapata has seen his team get better as the season has gone along.
“We have had some ups and downs because these girls haven’t played together for a long time but I was really happy with our effort and we just continue to get better.”
Myer girls basketball came out of the pandemic in good shape.
“We had lots of girls try out for junior and senior,” Zapata said.
STATS PACK
Cougars 56 Marauders 31
Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Centennial’s Alexis Wright with a whole bunch of points, lots of rebounds and one heck of a lot of assists. Unfortunately, no individual scoring was available on the gamesheet.
For the Centennial Cougars: A bunch of girls scored and played well.
For the Myer Marauders: A bunch of girls also scored and played well.
