Colavecchia’s home away from home
Julia Colavecchia made a successful albeit painful return to Niagara Saturday night.
The A.N. Myer graduate scored 13 points and added six rebounds to help the visiting Guelph Gryphons women’s basketball team record a hard-fought 70-65 victory over the Brock Badgers at the Bob Davis Gymnasium.
“I love it always because it is such a good atmosphere and you get to play in front of family and friends which I don’t always get to do living in Guelph,” Colavecchia said, moments after a Guelph trainer plastic wrapped icepacks to her left knee and right ankle.
The former Niagara Ranger, Niagara Juel and Juel Prep and Niagara Prep player needed the ice after a couple nasty collisions and tumbles to the floor.
“I was just trying to be as aggressive as I could out there, diving on loose balls and stuff like that.”
The family studies and human development major had a blast Saturday night playing with and against so many Niagara players. Brock’s roster includes Allie Addy and Kaley DeMont from St. Catharines, Madalyn Weinert from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Chloe Peters from Welland and Aleksija Vukovic from Grimsby. In addition to Colavecchia, Guelph has Alexis Wright from Welland and Hannah Bourdon from Fort Erie.
“I love playing against them and it is always nice to see them. We are still all close, especially Chloe and I. We still keep in touch and it was great to see her back on the court.”
Peters and Colavecchia played together at Niagara Prep.
Saturday’s game featured some Niagara politeness as both Addy and DeMont apologized to Colavecchia after fouling her.
“I feel like we are all just buddies,” Colavecchia said, with a laugh.
This season, she has started all 18 games for Guelph and is averaging 8.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.4 assist and 2.2 steals per game. She leads the Gryphons in steals.
Guelph head coach Megan Reid loves having Colavecchia on her roster.
“I first saw Julie when she was playing at Niagara Prep and she was a knockdown shooter and they were a championship-level team in the OSBA (Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association),” she said. “She had poise, she took the right shots, she played tremendous defence and she could guard the post or a guard. She was a versatile player.”
Reid has watched the 5-foot-11 player get better every year.
“Her first year was COVID and it was a terrible year where they played nobody and had no competition. There were times when we had 10 people in the gym and Julia didn’t waver from working on this and working on that. She had her goals and she worked tremendously hard on them.”
Those efforts have paid off on the court.
“Her whole class is hungry, they are humble and she want to help her teammates out in any way that she can. You have to encourage her at times to shoot a little bit more than she wants to but we trust her completely when she is shooting,” Reid said. “We even have her bring the ball up sometimes and when we ask her to defend someone who is really tough on the other team and is a little bigger, she goes to work.”
Reid is confident that Colavecchia will be able to step up and take on an even bigger role with the Gryphons next season.
“She has been a starter since she has been with us, she has played big minutes and she plays when she is hurt. She is going to keep filling those shoes and there is more to come.”
Colavecchia feels she is making steady progress with her play.
“It is such a high level and I am playing with really good girls. Playing with MacKeely Shantz, someone I have to guard in practice, makes me a better defender all-around because she is one of the top players in the OUA (Ontario University Athletics).”
She is ready to take the next step for her team.
“Next year, we are losing a couple of players so stepping up scoring-wise will be a big thing and also getting better at defending.”
She is loving her time at Guelph.
“It is the best experience ever. I like all the girls. We are all so close and it is such great atmosphere to play in. The gym is always packed and I am meeting new people.”
