Barons win OFSAA Consolation

The Ecole Secondaire Catholique Algonquin Senior Girls Basketball team wrapped up an immensely successful season by capturing the consolation championship at the OFSAA “A” girls basketball championships in Port Hope on Friday.

They downed the Nelson A.Boylen Skyhawks (Toronto) in the finals 49-23. Meagan Willard was the top scorer as she poured her season high of 16 points. Earlier in the consolation semi-finals, they downed Ridley College (St.Catherines) 32 to 20 with Jolinne Maisonneuve collecting 11 points while team captain chipped in with 7. They defeated the host Trinity College, who were seeded 5th, in the quarter-finals 46-43. The Barons were led offensively by Sarah Trottier who netted 12 points, while Maisonneuve added 11.

“We showed we belonged," said Barons coach Tim Lowe.

“The girls showed why they are champions – they won four games at the provincial championships. I was disappointed with our seed going into the tournament, and in the end I think we proved the seeding committee wrong by winning the consolation championship," he added.

“Not very many teams have a chance to win their last game of the season, and we did. The girls really worked hard to give the graduating players – Michelle Danielson, Morgan Mantha, Sarah Trottier and Alisha Perron - a win."

Danielson also picked up the team’s OFSAA sportsmanship award.

The Barons started the tournament with a win over unseeded Thorold Secondary School 29-20, but then had to face the fourth seed Char-Lan District S.S. in the second round and suffered their only loss 42-21. Char-Lan was upset in the first round by Nelson A. Boylen, which meant that the 7th seeded Barons would meet up with the 4th seeded in the second round.

“With Char-Lan being upset, it really bungled up the draw," said Lowe.

“We shouldn’t have met up with a seeded team until the quarter-finals," he said.

“But we came out flat and Char-Lan was a much different team when we played them and that combined with our poor shooting was our downfall”, added Lowe.

The loss put the Barons in the consolation side of the tourney - where the rattled off 3 straight wins.

”The one thing I’m proud of is the effort that these 11 girls put forth this year. They work extremely hard all season and are very deserving of two championships - NDA and NOSSA – and now they’ve won a consolation championship at OFSAA," added Lowe.

Submitted to BayToday.ca