Barons down Trojans in NDA playoff hoops opener

The École Secondaire Catholique Algonquin Barons downed the West Ferris Trojans 32-13 in game one of their best of three senior girls basketball semi-final on Thursday night at the Algonquin gym. The Barons were solid in the first quarter as they jumped to an early 15-1 lead. At the half, they led 24-3, but the Trojans did not quit and managed to close the gap to 26-9 after 3 periods.

"We came out flying," said Barons coach Tim Lowe. "We talked about how weak our play has been in the early parts of the game in the pre-game talk, so it was nice to see that early lead."

Jolinne Maisonneuve had a huge offensive game, scoring 19 points, 13 of those in the first quarter.

Her play (Maisonneuve) was huge tonight. She shot well, made good decisions with the ball," he said.

While Maisonneuve was solid on the offensive side, Lowe credits the defence for stepping up.

"By holding them to under 15 points took he pressure off our offense," said Lowe, as the Barons held the Trojans to 2 field goals - the rest of their points coming off foul shots.

"I don't like the way we played in the 3rd quarter, but Ferris did not quit and we became complacent."

Top scorers were for the Barons, Maisonneuve with 19, Célyne Bégin added 6, and Alisha Perron chipped in 4 points. For the Trojans, Aaron Paibamsai and Ashley Zen each had 4 points.

Game two of the best of three goes Monday night at 7:30 p.m. at the West Ferris gymnasium.