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submitted photos
Fighting Irish Capture Bronze!
The Fighting
Irish Major Atom team coached by Dean Galvin and Jay Peckham
captured Bronze at the 15th Annual London
Ramblers Tournament on Feb. 15-17.
The Irish
squad defeated the London 86er’s in a hard fought 26-20
battle on Friday night. Megan Thevenot had her best game of
the season scoring 8 points, pulling down 5 rebounds and
forcing 4 London turnovers. Brynne Kennedy also played tough
defense for the Irish shutting down the London point guard
and stealing the ball from her twice. Victoria Ennett and
Taylor Moore had 4 points each followed by Lauren Dalrymple
with 3, Daylin Galvin and Emily Peckham with 2 each with a
single point from Kadin Siopidou-D’Andrea.
On Saturday
morning the Irish faced Brantford CYO, their toughest
competition in the tournament. “ We knew we were in a ‘must
win’ situation and the girls really rose to the challenge.”
Said Coach Peckham. The lead changed several times during
the game with the Irish finally pulling away in the final
quarter to post a 33-26 win. Adrianna Arcuri gave a very
strong performance at both ends of the floor racking up 7
points, 9 rebounds and 2 steals. Rounding out the scoring
were Peckham with 10 points, Kadin with 6, and Dalrymple and
Lauren Elviage with 3 each.
On Saturday
night the Irish ladies easily defeated the Strathroy Spirit
33-7. In typical Irish fashion it was a true team effort
with 8 players contributing to the offense. Peckham
connected for 10, Kadin had 6, Adrianna, Ennett, Thevenot
and Moore had 4 each and Galvin and Dalrymple added 2 each.
This Irish
finished first in their pool pitting them against the host
team, London Ramblers in the semi-final game Sunday
morning. “We came out very strong,” commented Coach
Peckham. “taking a commanding 9-2 lead at the end of the
first quarter.” But the offense ran cold for the remainder
of the game and the Irish girls were only able to score an
additional 9 points in the final three quarters dropping a
disappointing 23-18 loss to a weaker team. Kadin had the
hot hand for the Irish with 5 points followed closely by
Galvin, Thevenot and Peckham with 3 each. Adrianna scored 2
and Dalrymple and Elviage added 1 point each.
Once again
the Irish faced the London 86er’s in the Bronze Medal
final. It was a very exciting and hard fought defensive
battle with the Irish emerging as the eventual 25-24
winners. Peckham led the offense with 8 followed by Galvin
and Moore with 4 each. Kadin, Thevenot and the Arcuri twins
added 2 each with Elviage chipping in 1 point.
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Each medal winning team was asked
to choose one player from their team for the
Barry Hall Memorial “Love of the Game” award.
“We had several girls who played their personal
best this weekend,” pointed out Coach Galvin,
“but when we read the criteria for the award,
our choice became clear. Lauren Elviage is one
of the smallest girls on the team but is
consistently in the thick of things. She always
plays tough defense and never gives up. During
the final game she got smacked pretty hard on
the nose and was sitting on the bench with an
ice pack when I looked at her and asked her if
she could go back in. She didn’t even hesitate,
just threw down the ice and said “You bet”. I
honestly think she would try to play with a
broken leg!” Elviage or “Elvis” as the team
calls her, racked up 17 steals and 13 rebounds
this weekend, and although she doesn’t care if
she ever scores, often passing off to other
players with a better shot, she did manage to
score 5 points this weekend. |
The Irish
squad has one more tournament in Toronto at the Hoop Dome on
March 7-9 before heading to Windsor for the Ontario Cup
Championships on March 28-30. |
