Muskies ready for Churchill challenge

The quest and the foe are the same, but the outcome could very well be different.
The odds are not in their favour but the Muskie senior girls’ basketball team couldn’t be less interested about their underdog status heading into this weekend’s best-of-three NWOSSAA final in Thunder Bay against the defending champion Churchill Trojans.
Game one of the series goes Friday afternoon, with game two set for Saturday morning. If necessary, game three is slated for Saturday afternoon.
The winner moves on to the all-Ontario ‘AA’ tournament in North Bay on Nov. 27-29.
After the Trojans walked into Fort Frances for last year’s NWOSSAA final and bounced the Muskies in two-straight games, the black-and-gold are intent on delivering some payback.
“Carley [McCormick] said it right the other day,” Fort High head coach Mike Busch said about his veteran forward’s claim after clinching the NorWOSSA crown two weeks that this was the Muskies’ time to make the next step.
“We dominated during the Thunder Bay tournament earlier this year, and our first-year girls are not intimidated at all by the Thunder Bay schools,” Busch added.
“The rookies are where our size is, and they’re going to have to step up,” he stressed.
The Muskies do possess a taller team than last year, although a portion of that height will be missing this weekend due to the absence of forward Jodi Caul because of a torn knee ligament.
To make a strong situation even better, Busch is switching McCormick from her usual post position to the wing to try and create a mismatch against the smaller Trojan outside forwards.
That means it will be up to veteran Melanie Hyatt—the team’s leading scorer in their last two games—and rookies Laura Busch and Ashley Whalen to get the job done down low.
“We need that size in there,” said Busch. “And now moving Carley to the wing gives us another shooting threat out there, along with Trish [Smith].
“Churchill plays their best inside,” he noted. “We need to be stronger on the boards. We need more consistency inside. But I think we match up very well with them at all the other positions.”
The Muskies are staring some formidable history in the face, however. They are trying to become the first Fort High senior girls’ hoops squad to make it to the all-Ontarios—and the first NorWOSSA team to beat a Thunder Bay crew at NWOSSAA.
The Kenora Broncos qualified automatically for OFSAA a few years ago because a Thunder Bay teachers’ strike cancelled the city’s high school athletics program that season.
Another big factor working in favour of any Thunder Bay hoops team is the club system for basketball available in the city, which allows high school players to compete in the sport year-round and hone their skills.
But Hyatt said everything is coming together at just the right time for Fort High. With the extra conditioning work the Muskies have been putting in lately to go along with their season-long cohesiveness as a unit, she believes the Trojans may be in for a surprise.
“I thought last year was the greatest team ever to play for, but this team loves to hang out as a group, as well, and we all get along really good,” said Hyatt.
“I’d say we have some doubts, but a lot of optimism,” she added. “Some of us might think we can’t beat Churchill, but we have to forget thinking like that.
“If we want it bad enough, I don’t see why we can’t beat them.”
(Fort Frances Times)