Centre Dufferin Royals Sr. girls challenge for first place

The Centre Dufferin District High School Royals senior girls basketball team are in second place in the District 4 standings – but barely.

The Royals are tied with Westside in games won but slot in second place in the standings based on points scored for the season – and that's only a two point difference.

The Royals hosted the Wellington Heights Wolverines on Monday, October 15, in the gym at Centre Dufferin.

Leading for the entire game the Royals had a solid game with good offensive moves and where hitting the hoops for all four quarters.

With good defensive posturing the Royals kept the Wolverines to the outside forcing them to miss shots from a distance.

The Royals left the court with a 42-19 win – their fourth win of the season.

“We played awesome,” said Royals wing, Kayla Cruikshank. “We pushed the ball up the floor quickly. The first half was harder – we didn't score as many points. In the second half we scored a lot more.”

On defence the Royals managed to shut down the Wolverines attack and gave them few chances to get a clean shot at the hoop.

“We had a new trap system which worked pretty good,” Kayla said. “When ever they brought the ball down to our end we tried to stop them before they got set up. You trap them in one area where they can't move. We got some stops that way.”

The Westside Secondary School Thunder are currently in first place in the District 4 standings followed by Centre Dufferin in second and Erin District in the number three spot.

The Royals have played five home games and will finish the rest of the regular season schedule on the road with five games scheduled around the region.

Juniors secure top spot in league

The Centre Dufferin District High School Royals junior girls are solidly in first place in the District 4 standings after winning their fourth straight game of the season.

The Royals hosted the Wellington Heights S.S. Wolverines in the gym at Centre Dufferin on Monday, October 15.

Both teams arrived undefeated so at least one squad was going to take their first loss of the season.

The Royals took an 11-4 lead to end the first quarter of Monday's game.

They widened the gap to nine points at the half and at the buzzer were ahead 17-8.

After the break the CDDHS team put up a solid defence having several steals on the court and adding eight points to their total at the end of the third quarter while keeping Wellington Heights pinned to four points.

The Royals allowed only two points against in the fourth quarter and finished the game with a 30-14 win.

“I fell we could have done way better,” said Royals centre Carly MacLean after the game. “We weren't using the floor much and we were crowding, but at the end we were more physical and aggressive and we got our steals. This game we didn't use the floor as much as we should have, and made ourselves available for passes.”

Carly said the team played a better second half.

“I think we were more aggressive and fought for our balls and got our rebounds. (On defence) I think in the end we showed how we could push it and steal and we became more aggressive at the end.”

The Royals played their first four games of the season at home and will now finish the regular season with four road games.

The team will play games against Emmanuel Christian, Westside, Erin Distict, and Wellington Heights before heading into the playoffs.