Bulldogs mine OFSAA bronze; Crossley tops consolation
The Sir Winston Churchill senior girls basketball team continued its historic run with a bronze medal last week at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations AA championships in Guelph.
The OFSAA medal is the third straight for the program following OFSAA AAA bronze in 2022 and AA gold in 2022.
“I told the girls that winning two medals in a row is not a dynasty,” Churchill head coach Frank Keltos said. “Winning three medals in a row would be considered a dynasty and I told them to remember that they are part of history and it’s one of those things that might never happen again.”
What makes the accomplishment even more surprising is that the team graduated four starters from last year’s championship roster. The team also doesn’t boast a roster of travel players.
“We don’t have one player that plays competitive basketball. We have a bunch of girls that have played before but nobody has aspirations to play at the U SPORTS or college level,” he said. “They are just kids who love the game and enjoy it but they are multi-faceted athletes who play different sports. We just pulled everyone together and it was awesome. It was great for the kids.”
The Bulldogs will lose three players to graduation, most notably star point guard Kate Smythe. Also graduating are Ayla Namestnik and Mya Pupek.
Keltos was pleased with his squad’s performance at OFSAA.
“I thought we played well enough to win the whole thing. You have hiccups in the road but we managed to pull off a bronze.”
The Bulldogs’ road to OFSAA bronze included a pair of overtime victories. The first came in the quarter-finals against St. Ignatius. With three starters fouled out, Churchill won 45-43 in overtime thanks to a Sydney Jones’ three-pointer with seven seconds left on the clock. The second overtime thriller was a 53-47 victory over Lo-Ellen Park in the bronze medal game. In that game, the Bulldogs got a little nervous at the end and allowed Lo-Ellen Park to tie the game. They rebounded by scoring the first eight points of the extra period.
The team’s OFSAA run included: beating Bayview Glen 44-26 (Smythe 18; Anya Namestnik 13, Morgan Barker 4; Sydney Jones 4; Pupek 3; Ayla Namestnik 2); thumping Harbord Collegiate 70-30 (Anya Namestnik 29; Smyth 13; Kiera Pink 9; Nora Hoff 8; Barker 8; Pupek 5; Shannen Short 1); edging St. Ignatius 45-43 (Anya Namestnik 16; Hoff 8; Sydney Jones 6; Smyth 5; Barker 4; Short 2; Pink 2; Pupek 2); falling 56-49 to King’s Christian (Smythe 24; Hoff 8; complete scorers not available); and topping Lo-Ellen Park 53-47 (Smyth 28, Anya Namestnik 11; Barker 5; Hoff 4; Pink 3; Jones 2).
E.L. Crossley, the second Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association representative, ending up winning the consolation championship by defeating Bayview Glen 63-42 (L’Jayah Simmonds 15; Addie Falardeau 15), Beatrice-Desloges 49-36 (Katie Luciani 9) and McKinnon Park 47-36 (Luciani 12). The Cyclone opened the tournament with a 53-22 victory over Thornlea (Amelia Silokowsky 14; Sarah Lowry 9) and then were knocked into the consolation bracket following a 40-26 loss to East Elgin.
