Mitch Calvert
The Muskie senior and junior girls’ basketball teams had their hands full when they returned home from tournaments in Thunder Bay on Sunday.
Both teams nabbed silver medals.
The seniors had opened with a 30-25 win over the host Churchill Trojans.
“We generated a lot of turnovers off the press,” coach Ian Simpson recalled. “I think we were down 12-8 at half, and ended up outscoring them by four in the third quarter and then by five in the last quarter.”
Kayla Windigo led the way with 10 points, followed by Chelsea Hill (seven) and Jolene Stahn (six).
The seniors then faced Hammarskjold in their next game, falling to Thunder Bay’s premiere team by a 43-13 score.
“They are, by far, the best team in Thunder Bay and will probably win some kind of medal if they get to the provincials,” Simpson noted.
“Very good team; fundamentally sound in every aspect of the game,” he added.
“Hammarskjold beats everyone in Thunder Bay by 25 points.”
Windigo again led all Muskie shooters with six points.
The six-team format saw the Muskies face Churchill again for a berth in the final, with the black-and-gold eking out a 19-17 win.
“The girls did a good job finishing the game,” Simpson enthused. “We were down 14-11 going into the last quarter and the girls did everything they had to do to come from behind.
“We were still about three down with a minute-and-a-half left, and they made shots that they had to.”
Windigo netted six points while Hill added four.
That meant Fort High had to meet Hammarskjold again in the final and a similar outcome resulted, with the Muskies losing 42-19.
Stahn had nine points in that one while Windigo added six.
“Jolene Stahn and Kayla Windigo maintained consistency,” Simpson lauded. “[And] it was a breakthrough weekend for Chelsea Hill, she really played well.”
“I was very pleased with the whole weekend overall,” he added.
Meanwhile, over at Westgate Collegiate, the Muskie junior girls opened their tournament with a 21-12 win over Churchill.
Erika Moffitt led the way offensively with eight points while Chantal Jodoin had seven.
Then in their second game against the host Tigers, Fort High emerged with a 30-12 win thanks to balanced scoring through all four quarters.
Jodoin had the hot hand scoring eight points while coach Dan Bird said Emily Drouin was the defensive player of the game.
Wynonna Kavanaugh and Jessica Ash each chipped in with key three-pointers in the final quarter against Westgate.
The lopsided win propelled the black-and-gold to the championship final against St. Ignatius. But the Falcons proved too stiff a test and the juniors fell 35-21 to settle for the silver medal.
“St. Ignatius is currently number two in the Thunder Bay standings, and showed why with good man-to-man defence,” Bird remarked.
“It was a good showing by our girls, and again our team defence was our strength,” he added. “The girls and coaches are proud of their efforts and conduct on and off the court.
“We still have lots of room for improvement, and concentrating on our basic skills and team concepts will be our focus,” Bird stressed.
“Our guards are doing a great job of running the offence, but it would be comforting to have some more scoring from the backcourt.”
In related news, the Muskie juniors grabbed sole possession of first place (4-1) with a 34-8 rout over Dryden here last Thursday.
Fort High jumped out to an early 8-2 lead and never looked back.
“Our guards, Emily Drouin, Adrian Gurski, Mary Strain, and Alyssa Caul, did a great job forcing Dryden to work their offence and cause turnovers,” Bird noted.
“They also did a great job in running the offence, pushing the fast-break and slowing the pace when needed.
“The whole team is buying in and executing what is practised,” Bird continued. “Our forwards
controlled the boards and contributed 24 points.
“The team displayed disciplined ball and saw that good defence leads to good offence.”
Jodoin had eight points while Chelsea Audette, Moffitt, and Kelsea Hunsperger also added key baskets.
But it was a different story for the Muskie senior girls last Thursday, who couldn’t get a consistent attack going en route to a 21-12 loss to the visiting Eagles.
Dryden (4-1) took over first place with the win while the black-and-gold dropped to second (3-2).
The visitors led 10-4 at halftime in the low-scoring affair before stretching their lead to 18-8 after three quarters.
“It was a close game until they had an eight-point run on us when we made four bad passes across the top with nobody back,” Simpson noted.
“Rebounding and defence I’m happy with, but offensively we have to be better,” he stressed.
The Eagles then went into lockdown mode in the fourth to quash any hopes of a Muskie comeback. Simpson called several time-outs down the stretch to try to spark an offensive charge but none generated any sustained momentum.
“We were just trying to maybe freeze the foul shooter a bit,” Simpson explained. “And to talk to the girls because I knew [Dryden] was going to try to hold onto the ball, so we couldn’t sit back in a zone anymore.
“We had to pressure them better, and we have to practise that more,” he remarked.
The lack of offensive production has been the team’s Achilles heel in their two regular-season losses to the Eagles.
“Offensively, we weren’t very sharp,” Simpson admitted. “[Dryden] played good pressure defence on us and we didn’t handle it well.
“Their defence was their best offence.
“As a team, we’re going to have to figure out ways to get open and continue to work on the fundamentals,” Simpson stressed.
“We have to work on one-on-one play because we’re tentative when it comes to driving to the basket and getting into positions to score.
“We’re not trying to beat them or create anything,” he lamented.
Another reason for the team’s offensive struggles has been the lack of execution from the free-throw line.
“I think [Dryden] was around 90 percent, only missed two or three, and we made none,” Simpson recalled. “That was a problem in our last game against Kenora, too.
“Free-throw shooting I think we were two for 13 [against Kenora], so we have to spend some more time working on that.”
Both Muskie squads were in Kenora yesterday to face the Broncos (the results were unavailable prior to press time).
