Staff
Both Muskie girls’ basketball teams could be doing more relaxing than playing in Kenora come next Thursday (Nov. 12).
The squads still have to wait for their NorWOSSA rivals to wrap up regular-season action this week, but both are almost mathematical locks to finish in first place in their respective divisions and earn byes to the league finals in eight days’ time.
The junior Muskies split their final two regular-season games last week, suffering a 19-18 loss to the Dryden Eagles on Tuesday (Oct. 27) before beating the host Kenora Broncos 20-14 on Thursday (Oct. 29).
Chantal Jodoin led the Muskies in scoring both games, netting eight against Dryden and then 10 versus Kenora.
“Chantal’s certainly been our leader on offence all year,” said junior coach Dan Bird, who also noted the stalwart defensive play of starting guards Emily Drouin and Mary Strain throughout the campaign.
“We played everyone in both games just to get some more playing time for those that don’t normally start,” he added.
At 6-2, the junior Muskies still could wind up tied with Dryden for first if the Eagles beat Kenora this week.
But if it goes to a tie-breaker involving points allowed in games against each other, Fort High holds such a large advantage that Dryden would have to blow out the Broncos to have any chance of grabbing top spot.
“We went in a little overconfident against Dryden, and we found out that you can live by the three-ball and die by the three-ball,” Bird admitted.
“We should have no problem going inside against either of these teams, but we were settling too often for shooting the ‘three,’ he noted.
“Against Kenora, we did better and got some better looks at the basket.”
The senior Muskies, meanwhile, won both their games last week to also finish at 6-2, downing Dryden 27-17 last Tuesday here and then slipping past a game Broncos’ squad 28-25 up in Kenora on Thursday.
Kayla Windigo led the Muskies against Kenora with 15 points while Jolene Stahn chipped in nine.
“Both players played excellent defence, too,” said senior coach Ian Simpson, who watched Windigo break a 25-25 tie with two key free throws in the dying seconds.
The Muskies and Eagles would be tied at 6-2 if Dryden beats Kenora this week. But with the teams also tied in terms of points allowed in games against each other, the next tie-breaker would be points allowed in games involving all three NorWOSSA teams.
While Simpson wasn’t certain, his belief that Dryden has given up 174 points in seven games, as opposed to the 172 allowed by the Muskies in eight games, means Fort High should have first place—and the bye—already in the bag.
“It looks good for us right now,” said Simpson, whose team won in Kenora despite having only nine players available due to the ’flu bug getting the best of two of his other roster members.
