Strong year for U11 Wildcats in province’s top division
Right to left back row – Coach Nicole Quigley, Jane Northcott, Moira Hughes, Juliet Ray, Makenna Terry, Sienna Wilson, Ella Braithwaite, Haven Buckler, Coach Carly Green, Coach Greg Terry
Right to left Front Row Audrina List, Selena Merilees, Emmersyn Jordan, Bryn Blokzyl, Braelah Wright-Morgan, Kyrah Quigley Absent Jocelyn Morkin
The U11 Atom girls Chatham-Kent Wildcat team had an extremely memorable season this year. Wrapping it up this past weekend at the provincial championships, battling it out with the top eight teams in all of Ontario.
The girls started it off with a dominating performance, beating Ottawa Next Level on Friday night with a big 16 point win.
On Saturday they were up against Markham Elite. An opponent they knew would be a difficult matchup, as they had only beat them by one point earlier in the season. The Wildcats worked hard all game but came up short in the end, losing a tough one. Next up, they took on the Barrie Royals, a familiar foe as this would be the fourth time the Wildcats would play this team this season. The Royals are the reigning champions, and the number one ranked team in the province, but the Wildcats never back down from this team. The girls played one of their best games of the season, dominating the boards, working as a team and showing this top ranked team exactly how far they have come this season. They frustrated the opposing players and coaches sticking with them for the first half, unfortunately it wasn’t enough and the Royals were able to pull away in the second half.
The U11 Wildcats ended up placing fifth in the provincial championship. This is the highest ranking finish for a Wildcat team since Basketball Ontario started playing in the OBL format.
This was no easy feat for this Wildcat team. Since October they have been working hard. They were given their original ranking of 7th out of 56 teams. Which placed them in Division “X”, in OBL, the top division. Throughout the season they placed 12 games in their Ontario Basketball League and were re-ranked twice, both times they were able to secure a spot in the top division ranking third and fourth in the province, which is an incredible achievement.
Along with playing in the Ontario Basketball League this team entered four tournaments, earning a gold medal in three of them, including two in Michigan, and a bronze in the other. They pride themselves on defense, holding many teams in their exhibition and sanction games to under 10 points. The ceiling for this team is high, as next year the rules change which only benefits the athletes on this team more. These girls are already working, preparing for another tournament in Michigan for the middle of April.