Vanier Bests Cornerstone In A Nailbiter

Photos and Story By Robert Thomas

It was a tight game as the Vanier Spirits junior girls team defeated the Cornerstone/Riverview Collegiate Falcons junior varsity squad 38 - 34 on Monday evening.

But it was likely making a basket right at the buzzer in the first half which swung the momentum in the Spirits favour.

“Tonight's game was very close. Cornerstone came out, they’re a bigger team I would say, and they’re a little older and defensively they were just outmuscling us,” Vanier Spirits head coach Miguel Cruz said.

The Falcons were able to take an early 6 - 0 lead and for the first minutes of the first quarter keep the visitors off of the scoreboard.

“But we were able to find a way to win,” Cruz said.

A key play was an at the buzzer basket to end the first half.

“The first half was very low scoring and just to have that extra little oomph going into half time in such a tight game that was a morale booster for the kids,” he said.

“There were a lot of little plays that happened throughout the game but that was the TSN (The Sports Network) turning point for sure.”

The team's next game - and final one before the Christmas break - is this Thursday evening.

Cruz said during the week the team is going to work on everything as “sometimes back to the basics is just the way to go.”

Despite the loss Cornerstone head coach Allan Block was happy with Falcon's efforts.

“I was happy with how we played we battled hard right to the end,” Block said.

The Falcons had several opportunities to catch up and win the game in the final two minutes and only lost that opportunity when they lost control of the ball with less than a minute of play.

Block said despite being a junior varsity (JV) team - where all students are eligible from Grade 9 to 12 are eligible to play - they only have one Grade 11 student.

The JV concept allows all schools to participate, including ones who have to combine two schools to field a team, and makes them competitive.

“We are so young. We make a lot of young mistakes and it cost us in the end,” he said.

“We just gave up too many easy baskets and we missed some easy baskets of our own so that's your four point difference.”

“We only have one Grade Eleven (player) the rest of them are in Grades Nine and Ten. A lot of them have never played basketball before,” Block said.

Asked about what were expectations for the season Block said he was expecting a tight competitive league.

“So far we only played two games and they have been only four or five point games so it looks like it's going to be a balanced league and good parity in the league.”

With players new to the game Block said it was going to be “a learning g season. There is lots to learn and the girls will get better so hopefully in March we are a much better team than we are now.”

He said the Falcons had yet to have some good quality practices where they can work on some plays the team should improve.