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Sarnia, ON
- It was not the final everyone was expecting
Saturday night, as the Northern Vikings impressively
won the LSSAA senior girls basketball finals with a
55-25 victory over the St. Christopher's Cyclones.
And
leading the way for a very young senior Vikings team
was a couple of juniors including grade-9 Lauren
Handy and grade-10 Cassidy Crowe, who each had
double digits in points.
"This is
the team I thought I had," said Vikings coach John
Thrasher. "We changed our style of play three weeks
ago and every game we seem to get a little more
comfortable with what we are doing."
That new
style included a full court press that earned the
Vikings an 11 point lead after the first
quarter, while holding the Cyclones to only three
points. Crowe and Handy lead the Vikings with six
points in the first quarter, while Leanne Holdaway
and Melissa Dally added single baskets for the
Vikings.
Northern
counted to press the Cyclones in the second half,
and made it 20-3 before the Cyclones could score
their next point. Desperation may have started to
sink in for St. Chris, who turned the ball over
numerous times in the second half, as the Vikings
built up a lead that would including a 18 point
second quarter. Handy and Holdaway each had four,
while Caroline Humell would lead the Cyclones with
four points in the quarter.
It would
be a mount to climb for the Cyclones as they trailed
32-12 at the half.
Northern
would hit 40 points as four different Vikings got in
on scoring to lead 40-13. Yasmine Taylor would hit a
three pointed for the Cyclones, her only score of
the game, as the Vikings played strong defence on
the point guard. Melissa Sally lead the Vikings with
four points, while Holdaway had three.
W ith
a comfortable 46-19 lead heading into the fourth
quarter, Lauren Handy would still step up for four
points in the quarter, while Caroline Humell would
respond with three points, as she lead the Cyclones
with 14 points in the game. Northern would finish
with an impressive 30 point margin of victory, with
a 55-25 victory to defend their senior girls
basketball championship.
The
Vikings acknowledged the passing ability of the
Cyclones which lead to the tight defence displayed
in the final game, putting pressure on the guards to
make a play.
"Our plan
was to be as tight on those guards as good be so
they would have no easy passes," said Thrasher. "And
every time Caroline Humell touched the ball we
double teamed her. If we were going to lose, we were
going to make other people on the team beat us."
"I give
Northern full credit," said Cyclones coach Ed Dragah.
"They shot well, they defended well, they deserved
to win this year."
Dragah
didn't feel his team put their best foot forward
which lead to the Vikings getting out to the early
lead, putting the pressure on the Cyclones to play
catch up all game.
Both teams
move on to SWOSSAA matches next week.
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