With wins over the Korah Colts and Algonquin Barons respectively, the Lo-Ellen Park Knights and Horizon Aigles laid claim to two of the three NOSSA berths that were up for grabs last weekend in girls’ basketball matchups.
Seeded fifth at the OFSAA “AA” Girls Basketball provincials in Guelph, the Knights will look to improve upon a 1-2 showing a year ago, riding a little extra emotion after overcoming a 30-27 loss to Korah in preliminary round action last weekend before taking down the Colts 35-22 in the championship affair.
The 2023 Lo-Ellen Senior Knights are: Olivia Tissot, Mia Yurich, Isabel McKague, Sophie Alexander, Brooke Gibeault, Aurora Circelli, McKenna Mende, Charlotte Bertrand, Ella Bourget, Paige Dawson, Tiana Thai, Matilde Fleury and head coach Miranda Lessard.
The Horizon senior girls were also pushed to the brink at NOSSA, battling their way to a 50-45 victory, a triumph that would make it a clean sweep for the Aigles after their junior crew bounced the CASS (Central Algoma Secondary School) Huskies 40-28 in their grand finale.
“We weren’t even sure that we would have a junior team this year,” noted Horizon junior head coach Dan Young. “We had just three returning players.”
Thankfully, the trio of Sophie Montgomery, Brooke Waltenbury and Erika Young provided a more than solid starting point, the veterans showing the way with 15, 13 and 11 points respectively again Algonquin.
Young, however, will contend that the banner was captured on the other side of the ball.
“We focused on defense first; that was our mentality all year,” he said. “We didn’t press at all. We fell back and played a solid man to man defense for the most part. The girls realized that you should be insulted if you check beats you. That was the main thing.
“We put the onus on each player to really step up their game defensively and learn to play good sound defensive basketball.”
The balance of the Horizon junior roster includes: Scarlett Parri, Lexi Briscoe, Chloe Carrier, Josée Gascon, Mya Sauvé, Teagan Roy and Reese Waltenbury.
Seeded 13th, the Horizon seniors will open play in Belleville on Thursday, pitted against the John McGregor SS Panthers from Chatham. The 2023 senior Aigles are Bailey Laurin, Arianne Lamontagne, Emily Windsor, Kayley Lemaire, Emma Pereault, Chloe Rinaldi, Marissa Laforge, Selena Sauvé, Abigaïl Lavigne, Olivia Hinich, Jasmine Mills, Camille Barr and Caroline Brunet.
The Mattawa combined entry of F.J. McElligott and Ecole Elisabeth-Bruyère took home the hardware from the NOSSA “B” Girls Basketball gathering at Sacré-Coeur, outscoring the Jeunesse Nord Aigles 41-22 in the final.
And last but not least, the St Mary’s Knights proved to be the class of the NOSSA Junior Girls AA/AAA Basketball field in North Bay, upending fellow Sault Ste Marie representatives Superior Heights 49-14 in the final.
