Joey Payeur
Make way for the “Muskie Express.”
The black-and-gold rolled through its opponents like a freight train at full steam during a pre-season junior girls’ basketball tournament hosted by the Dryden Eagles over the weekend.
It was all Fort High from the get-go at the four-team round-robin event as the Muskies went 3-0 to capture the title–winning every game by at least 19 points.
“I honestly could not have been much happier with the way we played,” said head coach Gord McCabe.
“I was really impressed with our depth.
“After a few missed assignments in our first game against Beaver Brae, our defence was really strong and the girls really helped each other out in covering screens,” he noted.
“I platooned players and substituted all five players every few minutes, and there never seemed to much of a drop-off from one group to the next,” McCabe added.
The Muskies opened with a 46-25 pounding of the Kenora Broncos, followed that with a 44-17 rout of the host Eagles, and then capped it with a 50-13 shellacking of the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (Kenora).
Top scorers for all games were unavailable.
McCabe lauded the work of returning point guard Grace Petsnick, who he said continues to lead the team both on and off the court.
But she wasn’t the only Muskie to garner praise.
“I was really impressed with the improvement of our returning players,” McCabe said.
“Rachel Anderson was very steady at point guard and controlled the tempo when she was in there.
“Bella Ward and Simone Payne are both emerging as solid scorers, and the improvement in Carmen Hebert’s play from last year to this year is nothing short of amazing,” he added.
“Jamie Spencer has become much smarter in her shot selection and Angie Redford is such a smart player, both with and without the ball in her hands,” McCabe noted.
The only down note was an ankle injury suffered by Jacy Gagne early against Kenora, which put her on the shelf for the rest of the tourney.
McCabe, meanwhile, was adamant his rookies also were very solid at the tournament.
“While they were nervous in their first game, all of them showed that they are very capable,” he remarked.
“And while there is lots to work on, I was really happy with all of them.
“Joanna Empey and Ingrid Ellis were solid at both ends of the floor,” McCabe noted.
“Becca Jourdain and Keisha Debungie showed some offensive talent, and Lauren Penney and Kaylyn Levesque improved with every shift on the court.”
Aurora Hutton missed the tournament due to a family commitment.
The squad opened the NorWOSSA regular season yesterday in Kenora against the Broncos (score unavailable at press time).
Then it has a plentiful home schedule over the next week.
The Muskies will host their pre-season home tourney this weekend, a four-team round-robin event that starts Friday at 1:30 p.m. against the Saints.
Then on Saturday, they’ll face Dryden at 10 a.m. before closing out the event against the Broncos at 2 p.m.
After that, the squad will host Dryden in its NorWOSSA home-opener next Tuesday (Sept. 26) beginning at noon.
“I am really happy with where we are at this point in the season, but we have to continue to improve,” McCabe stressed.
“[The Broncos] have a lot of Grade 9s, so they will definitely get better as the season goes on, and I also see a lot of potential in Dryden’s team,” he noted.
“But I really like what I saw from our girls this weekend.”
