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Fighting Irish lose to London in
Quarter Finals
The Fighting
Irish Major Atom team coached by Dean Galvin and Jay Peckham
represented Sarnia very well at the Ontario Cup Basketball
Competition last weekend in Windsor.
The Irish
squad was visibly nervous in their opener against Gloucester
on Friday night. “We just couldn’t do anything right.” said
Coach Peckham. “Half the time we looked like we never saw a
basketball court before!” The Irish lost the game by a
decisive 42-14 final. “At that point, I was really thinking
that we had been ranked too high and that we should have
been placed in Division 4. I figured we’d play two more
games and go home.” added coach Galvin. Megan Thevenot
led the Irish offense with 7 points followed by Emily
Peckham and Victoria Ennett with 2 each. Daylin Galvin,
Kadin Siopidou-D’Andrea and Lauren Dalrymple hit for one
free throw each.
But it was
an entirely different story the next morning when the Irish
faced St. Catharine's, the 3rd seed in their
division. It was a real defensive battle with the lead
changing hands several times throughout the game. St.
Catharine's held an 8-7 lead at the half and it was tied at
13 at the end of the third quarter. Both team’s offense
came to life in the final quarter with the Irish outscoring
St. Catharine's 15-13 to post a 28-26 final. Galvin,
Siopidou-D’Andrea and Peckham were the big guns for the
Irish with 6 each followed by Ennett with 4 and the Arcuri
twins, Carmella and Adrianna, with 3 each.
Siopidou-D’Andrea and Adrianna pulled down 9 and 7 rebounds
respectively while Galvin, Ennett and Peckham combined to
force15 St. Catharine’s turnovers.
In the
afternoon the Irish girls faced the Mississauga Monarchs in
their third match up in as many weeks. “We beat Mississauga
twice in Toronto 3 weeks ago and we knew they were gunning
for us.” said Coach Galvin. But the Irish girls fought hard
for the full 32 minutes to defeat the Monarchs once again
25-20. Galvin led the offense with 8. C. Arcuri and Ennett
added 4 each, Dalrymple, A. Arcuri, Peckham and Thevenot
chipped in 2 each.
The two wins
put the Irish in 2nd place in their division
pitting them against the London Ramblers in the quarter
final Saturday night. “We won two very hard fought games on
Saturday to make it into the quarter-finals but London only
had to play one game that day and it made a big difference.
Our girls were absolutely exhausted.” said Coach Galvin.
London went on a 9-0 run in the first 4 minutes of play, but
the Irish girls dug deep and fought back to within 3 points
at the end of 3 quarters. With 2 minutes left to play the
Irish were still within 3 points but the Ramblers executed
two quick steals that resulted in points to put the game out
of reach. With 20 seconds left in regulation the writing
was on the wall and the Irish parents rose in unison to give
their girls a standing ovation in recognition of a great
season. There wasn’t a dry eye on the court or in the
stands as the final buzzer sounded.
“This team
finished 60th out of as many teams last year but
improved our ranking to 27th at the end of the
regular season this year.” said Coach Galvin. “Last year
we only won four games all year. This year we won medals at
4 out of 5 tournaments.”
Both Coaches
would like to thank the parents for their continued and avid
support all season. Special thanks must go to the team
manager Donna Arcuri; Ron Elviage and Pete Ennett, who kept
the stats all year and Stephanie Dalrymple who looked after
the accommodations. They would also like to acknowledge the
contributions of Joe Arcuri and Jouee D’Andrea for lending
their expertise with all of the player injuries this year.
The Irish
club wraps up their season with an awards banquet on May 13th
at the Dante Club. “Deciding on our three recipients for
the awards is going to be the toughest challenge we have
faced all year!” admitted Coach Galvin. “I couldn’t be
prouder of the way each player developed and worked together
as a team. They certainly proved to me and everyone else
that they did indeed belong in Division 3.” |
