The Wallaceburg Tartans are the ‘AA’ SWOSSAA senior girls basketball champions, after beating the Essex Raiders 46-26 on Wednesday night in front of a packed gym at WDSS.
With the win, the Tartans qualify for OFSAA, which is being held November 23-25 in Hunstville.
Janine Day, the Tartans head coach, told the Sydenham Current she believes this year’s squad has what it takes to capture the provincial crown.
“It’s a good group… we’ve lost five games this year and we’ve been ranked in the top four the last two years. Obviously, I’m hoping for that, but whatever happens then we’ll take our seed and do our best there,” Day said.
“I think the biggest thing at OFSAA is grinding… to make it to the Saturday, you have to win five games. That’s tough. Just keeping the kids focused and realizing that there are going to be ups and downs in the game, but you have to play to the buzzer.”
Tartans 46, Raiders 26
Day said it was a true team effort against Essex on Wednesday, as it is every game for the Tartans.
“When I sub kids in, when you get in there, play defense. That’s what the kids can do, whether they’re starting five or on the bench. On defense, that turns into offence for us,” Day said.
Megan McCarter led Wallaceburg with 13 points, while Kaitlyn Quinlan had 12 points.
Legacie Blackbird scored 8 points, Ash LaBlance scored 6 points and Brett Fisher added 5 points.
The Tartans led the Raiders 30-9 at halftime.
“Sometimes at the beginning in the first quarter you see nerves, you can’t really tell who the better team is,” Day said.
“But I think we applied some pressure, kind of changed our game in the second quarter and I think that changed the game for us, our full court pressure… and the ability to keep that up for the rest of the game. A lot of teams can’t press for 75% of the game.”
Here are some more photos from the SWOSSAA win, by Aaron Hall:
– Featured photo credit: Ava Andrew
– Photo gallery credit: Aaron Hall
