Centre Dufferin Royals junior girls capture coveted District 4 championship

Written By BRIAN LOCKHART

As far as championships go, the District 4 junior girls final basketball game between the Centre Dufferin District High School Royals and the Erin District High School Raiders turned out to be what an exciting final between two top teams should be.

It was a tight and close game that came down to the final minute of play as the two teams matched each other basket for basket for the entire four quarters.

The Royals came to the final game as the number one seed and a 7 – 1 record for the season.

They knocked out Wellington Heights Secondary School in the semi-final to earn the right to go to the District championship.

Erin was the number two team in the standings with a 7 – 1 record. They dispatched Westside Secondary School in their semi-final game.

The championship game was played out in the gym at Centre Dufferin on Monday, November 11.

At the end of the half the game was tied 11 – 11.

When the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter, the Raiders had a one point 16 – 15 lead.

The final quarter turned into a battle to see who could get the edge and take the win.

With two minutes left on the clock, Carly McLean, hit two baskets on foul shots to give the Royals a one point lead.

With 1:30 left on the clock, Royals' Taylor Pate was fouled and hit the shot to put the CDDHS team ahead by two.

The Royals left the court with a 25 – 23 win and the District title.

“At first we were really stressed out, but then our coach (Matt Barlow) told us to just calm down and play the game that we loved and that really got our heads in the right place and that pulled us forward,” said Royals point guard, Emilie Hill, after the win. “We were communicating with each other. We were moving the ball around and communicating. We tried a couple of different plays. It all came down to us moving the ball.”

Teammate, Karly Doolittle, said it was a tough game but the team pulled together to get the win.

“It was pretty tight, pretty stressful, but once we calmed down and on defence started securing the rebounds, that really helped us,” Karly said. “Once we calmed down we were able to run through our plays. Once we started playing good ‘help' defence, that helped us because they had a couple of girls that could go hard to the net.”

The Royals will advance to regional competition at CWOSS, in Simcoe on Friday, Nov. 15, and Saturday, Nov. 16.

The team will compete in a round robin style tournament on Friday with winning teams going on to the semi-finals and final game on Saturday.