Wildcats Silver At IEM
The Chatham-Kent Wildcats Major Bantam team won silver at the IEM Tournament – Contributed Photo
The Wildcats went 3 and 1 in pool play, making it to the Gold Medal game, and came away from this one with a hard earned silver medal.
In the first game of pool play the Chatham-Kent girls faced Girl Power Motion, a team from Toronto, and came away with a 37-28 victory. Marissa Beselaere led the team in scoring with 9 points. Claire Cox added 7 points, Briyah Baylis had 6 points and Elliot Cowan had 6 points and 17 rebounds. Both Taliah Belanger and Sydney Sheppy were strong defensively with 6 steals each.
In the second game of pool play the Wildcats faced a much taller KW Vipers Elite team from the Kitchener-Waterloo area. At one point the Wildcats were down by 17 points in this one, but clawed their way back for a 55-49 win. Elliot Cowan led the way, scoring 19 points which included 4 of 7 three pointers, with three 3`s in a row to seal the victory. Claire Cox added 11 points, Jillian Vickery had 7 points and Briyah Baylis had 6 points.
In the third pool game the Wildcats faced the North Toronto Huskies and were narrowly defeated in overtime by a score of 46-43. Elliot once again had a dominant game, scoring 10 points and had 18 rebounds and 4 assists. Claire Cox had 8 points, Marissa Beselaere and Briyah Baylis 6 points each and Solara Howe added 5 points.
In the final pool game the Wildcat girls faced Ottawa Next Level and came away with a 46-41 win. Elliot Cowan continued to show her strong play with 12 points and 6 steals. Marissa Beselaere had 9 points to go along with 3 steals and 4 assists. Claire Cox and Briyah Baylis had 5 points each and Bella Bugros had 4 points.
In the Gold Medal game the girls from Chatham-Kent faced Triple Balance, a team from Toronto. The Triple Balance squad had easily won all of their pool games and were strong, fast and tall. At one point early in the 3rd quarter the Wildcats found themselves down by as much as 18 points before attempting to mount yet another comeback. The Wildcats ran out of time and eventually lost in this final game 58-52. Elliot Cowan`s play was spectacular as she scored 27 points, 8 boards, 3 steals, 2 assists, 3 blocks and no turnovers. Briyah Baylis also continued her strong play with 7 points and 4 assists.
Team members include Elliot Cowan, Claire Cox, Melissa Pardy, Marissa Beselaere, Jillian Vickery, Sara Turner, Briyah Baylis, Solara Howe, Megan Colby, Taliah Belanger, Sydney Sheppy and Bella Bugros. Coached by Charles Peet and Skylar Baylis.