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HS
Basketball
Tigers
down east end rivals to win junior girls hoops crown
By Mike Beasley
The Orleans Star
The
phrase, �it's not how you start that matters but how you
finish� has never been more true for the St. Matthew junior
girls' basketball team.
The
St. Matthew Tigers and the St. Peter Knights, two Orléans
high school rivals, met up in the Tigers Den on Thursday,
Nov. 8 for the Tier 1 junior girls basketball championship.
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(L
to r) Zoe Stow, Tatiana Smith, Celine Mbele,
Gia Aoude, Brianna Brunet, Shannon Scullion,
Robyn Edwards and Sarah Leslie pose with the
junior girls Tier 1 championship trophy. PHOTO
COURTESY OF NELLY YOUSUFZAI
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Things
looked pretty bleak for the Tigers in the early going
as they struggled to put points on the board due to some
poor shooting and shabby rebound control. But as the game
progressed, St. Matthew slowly found their game and with
the help of home court advantage and the pro-Tigers crowd
they ended up edging St. Peter 42-38.
From
the opening tip-off, the Tigers looked a bit shocked as
the Knights built up a 12-0 lead in a dominating first
quarter performance.
"We
even went down 14-2 and couldn't get any shots to go in,�
admitted Rick Despatie, the victorious St. Matthew head
coach. "We got away from our game of quick passing and
fast breaks which led to some nervousness but the girls
continued to work hard and came back in the second half
for the win.�
The
Tigers were able to narrow the gap to 15-8 by half-time
thanks to pair of late baskets by Celine Mbele and Robyn
Edwards.
The
game turned in the Tigers favour in the third quarter
when they managed to outscore the Knights 18-6 to take
a 26-24 lead with the most entertaining portion of the
game to be played.
The
final eight minutes of action was fast and furious with
both teams racing up and down the court draining shots
from every possible angle. With each passing second, St.
Matthews started to gain more confidence and rode the
torrid shooting of Shannon Scullion who ended up scoring
a game high 25 points.
The
girl was on a mission as she took control of the ball
and executed time after time after time.
"As
the game went along I became more comfortable with the
ball and felt confident every time I shot,� said a beaming
Scullion amid the post-game celebration. "At half time
we spoke about being calm for the remainder of the game
and make them mess up, we just came out harder and better
than they did which enabled us to win.�
Besides
Scullion's 25 point output, Gina Aoude scored seven points
for the Tigers, while Mbele added a pair of baskets and
Edwards and Tatiana Smith scored two points each.
The
Knights were led by Paige R. who scored 19 points, including
five three-point shots. One of the keys to the Tigers
being able to turn the tide in the second half was their
ability to cool off the hot-shooting Knight who scored
16 of her 19 points in the first two quarters including
three straight three-point shots. She only scored three
points after the half-time. all of which came on a trio
of foul shots.
(This
story was made possible thanks to the generous support of
our local business partners.)
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