High school girls’ basketball continues to grow on the Coast, with two Chatelech Secondary School girls’ teams in the North Shore Secondary School Athletics Association (NSSSAA) league this year. Despite a challenging season, with many cancellations and games being rescheduled, the players stayed positive and worked hard, and both teams earned a playoff berth for the first time in years.
The Juvenile Girls team had a very good season and their skills progressed by leaps and bounds. In their final regular season game against Seycove, they sprang out to an early lead and played excellent defense throughout a tightly contested game to bring home a 21-18 win.
With the win they qualified for the quarter-finals in the NSSSAA playoffs and played against Handsworth last Tuesday. They gave a great effort but were unable to come home with the win.
The Senior Girls team showed tremendous heart, toughness and resilience throughout the season.
Despite being a young team and losing key players to injury along the way, they competed well with far more experienced teams and improved every game. In their final regular season game, they battled back from a six-point half-time deficit to beat St Thomas Aquinas 38-30 and qualify for the playoffs.
In the semi-finals, the Senior Girls faced the third ranked team in the province, the Mulgrave Titans. Mulgrave’s experience and depth proved to be too much but the girls fought hard and played as a team right to the end.
In the consolation final, the 10th ranked Collingwood Cavaliers lept out to an early lead with an incredible display of outside shooting and never looked back. Once again, the Senior Girls gave an excellent effort and showed their heart and resilience against a tough team.
The Senior Girls team was also busy off the court this season and raised money for the Together Against Violence (TAV) Program, which runs local women’s shelters and other programs that support vulnerable women and children in our community. On Jan. 21, the team held their 3rd Annual Shoot-a-thon fundraiser event, during which the team made 1,001 shots (400 layups, 400 free throws and 201 three pointers) and raised $2,000 for the TAV Program.
Kudos to both girls’ basketball teams for a great job this year, and with everyone back next year, it is an exciting time for girls’ high school basketball on the Coast!
