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Fighting Irish Conquer the HoopDome!
The Fighting
Irish Major Atom team coached by Dean Galvin and Jay Peckham
were perfect this past weekend winning all four games and
bringing home Gold. The tournament took place at the
HoopDome which is
a state of the art, multi gymnasium basketball only facility
located at Downsview Park, Toronto. This 42,000 square foot
premiere basketball facility has been open since March 30,
2007, and addresses the growing demand for basketball in
Toronto.
The Irish
squad defeated Wallaceburg in the opener on Friday night
31-15. The game was a lot closer than the final score
indicated with the Irish outscoring Wallaceburg 15-2 in the
fourth quarter. Carmella Arcrui led the offence with 8
points followed closely be Daylin Galvin with 6 and Kadin
Siopidou-D’Adrea with 5. Galvin and Siopidou-D’Adrea also
gave strong defensive efforts pulling down 18 rebounds and
12 steals between them. Rounding out the scoring were
Adrianna Arcuri with 4 and Megan Thevenot, Lauren Elviage,
Lauren Dalrymple and Emily Peckham with 2 each.
On Saturday
morning the Irish easily defeated Durham City 40-7.
Adrianna Acuri had the hot hand for the Irish connecting for
9 points followed by Galvin, Siopidou-D’Adrea, and Peckham
with 6 each. Victoria Ennett and Thevenot added 4 a piece,
Dalrymple had 3 and Carmella Arcuri added 2. Ennett and
Siopidou-D’Adrea led the defense by combining for 12
rebounds and 11 steals. Brynne Kennedy had one of her
strongest games of the season pulling down 4 rebounds and
causing 3 Durham turnovers.
On Saturday
afternoon the Irish faced their toughest competition, the
Mississauga Monarchs. The Irish jumped out to an 8-3 lead
in the first quarter but the Monarchs fought back to within
2 by the end of the half. The Irish came back strong in the
second half overpowering the Monarchs 18-4 to nail down the
27-11 win. Daylin Galvin led the attack at both ends of the
court scoring 8 points and recording 10 steals and 5
rebounds. Victoria Ennett gave her strongest offensive
performance of the season with 7 points. Adrianna Arcuri
had 4 and Siopidou-D’Adrea, C. Arcuri, Thevenot and Peckham
added 2 each.
Once again
the Irish faced Mississauga on Sunday in a very exciting and
drama filled championship game. After being out-gunned
the day before the Monarchs came to play and quickly racked
up a 12-1 lead. Lauren Dalrymple led a 6-3 run late in the
2nd quarter to bring the score to 15-7 at the
half. The Irish exploded for 9 points in the third quarter
while holding the Monarchs to a single point. Daylin Galvin
connected for a long 3-pointer as the quarter ended but the
officials ruled that it was too late and the Irish had to
settle for a 16-all tie at the end of the third quarter.
The lead swung back and fourth in the fourth quarter with
Adrianna Arcuri’s shot putting the Irish up by 2 with less
than a minute to play. The Irish hung on to take the Gold
by a 23-21 margin. “I was very proud of our girls” said
Coach Galvin. “Mississauga came out strong and quickly
racked up a sizable lead, but our girls never gave up and
fought hard to get back in the game and eventually post the
win. I am particularly proud of our defense all weekend. I
always preach that offense sells tickets but defense wins
championships and it was our strong team effort on defense
that won the Gold this weekend.” Peckham led the offense
with 6; Dalrymple, A. Arcuri and Ennett had 4 each, Galvin
added 3 and C. Arcuri chipped in 2.
The Irish
squad will enjoy a much needed rest before heading to
Windsor for the Ontario Cup Championships on March 28-30.
“I honestly feel that our team is peaking at the right time
and we should do well in Windsor if we can keep everyone
healthy!” said Coach Peckham. The Irish have suffered the
loss of Mariah Johnston and Taylor Moore to injuries and
will have to have the 10 remaining players able to play in
the finals to avoid forfeiting. |
