But Humberside still advances to OFSAA with win over Jarvis
Not taking advantage of the bunnies was what lost the Huskies the AAA senior girls basketball race.
A tired Kate McPherson, Humberside’s coach, shared her overview of the City Championship game against Downsview Mustangs, Nov. 15 at the University of Toronto.
Those uncontested shots or “bunnies” were a detriment to point production.
“We missed a lot of bunnies when the game was a bit tighter and if you can’t capitalize on those you’re going to have a long night,” McPherson said.
Still, losing only 44–22 to a Mustangs squad that bounced Weston (82–41) and Jarvis (48–19) from the Citys, brought some optimism to guard Ella Ratz.
“I think we could have scored better but I thought that we played pretty good defence compared to other teams that played against Downsview,” she said.
Ratz came off the bench to coordinate her teammates with an inside-game focus.
“I wanted to find open people down low and get them the ball somewhere where they could do something,” she said.
The results were eight points for Maura Leslie and seven for Justina Melkis. Those Humbersiders played a tough game, as Melkis forced plenty of fouls driving the paint.
“We forced a lot of turnovers, played better defence in the second half,” she said. “Justina has been a real bedrock for us — her shooting wasn’t quite on today but she played very good defence.
Downsview’s win came due to their stingy defence. Mustangs coach Devon Thompson has been introducing new schemes in the hopes his charges can adapt for the provincials.
“We faltered a little bit on offence but we have some new sets, so the girls are just learning,” he said. “We’re trying to get new stuff in for OFSAA so today was our tryout.
“They looked for each other on the backdoor cuts, which helped a lot.”
Leading the way for the North York school was Telica Burton with 13 points. Thompson commended the solid efforts of Loysha Morris and Cassandra Nofuente on defence. Morris added seven points, four boards and five steals while Nofuente notched six points.
Though Downsview was draining deuces at consistent pace, Humberside’s Sara Fassil and Shanelle Ellis pulled down eight and five boards respectively.
The Huskies loss doesn’t spell an end to the season. They played an OFSAA qualifier against Jarvis, Nov. 17. The result was a 34–33 success, booking Humberside a ticket to Kingston Nov. 23–26.