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Nationals an eye opener for local basketball talent
2019-08-10

The wins did not necessarily pile up, but the experience of competing at nationals was invaluable as local basketball talents Emilie Lafond and Delaney Bourget prepare for their final year of high-school.

Both young ladies cracked the Team Ontario roster for the very first time in their careers, taking part in the 2019 15U & 17U Girls National Championships this past week in Victoria.

If there was any doubt about the level of competition, the answers were provided early as Alberta rode an 18-point performance from Yvonne Ejim to a 70-49 triumph over Ontario.

Bourget topped the Ontario roster in playing time, finishing at 34:45 and racking up four points, with Lafond adding a basket of her own and Jayme Foreman leading the way with 14.

Now recalibrated, Ontario put up a much better fight in game two, beaten 68-60 by the host team from British Columbia, whose offense was spearheaded by the one-two punch of Deja Lee (19) and Tara Wallack (17).

Isaline Alexander (17) and Foreman (15) countered for Ontario, with Bourget (3) and Lafond (2) also finding their way on to the scoresheet as well. Facing an undefeated team from Québec in game three, Ontario fell 81-62, as Bourget nearly doubled her offensive output with six points in 28:31 of playing time.

Isaline Alexander made it back to back 17-point games in a losing cause, while the winners featured four players in double digits in the form of Ornella Niankan (16), Kiandra Browne (15), and Jayla Owen-Lafontaine and Louella Allana, both with ten.

Ontario would close out the event with a win, besting New Brunswick 72-59 as Bourget added another five points to her stat-line, all while also tying for team lead in defensive rebounds, with five.

Lucky 17 was in play again for Isaline Alexander, with Jayme Foreman (12), Izabella Zingaro (11) and Cassandra Joli-Coeur (10) all chipping in offensively for the winners as well.

New Brunswick, by contrast, relied quite heavily on both Taylor Wood (17) and Kylee Speedy (16), the pair accounting for more than 55% of their team's production.

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