Owls are All Ontario bound!

By Ken Johnston
Editor

The Owls are soaring to OFSAA heights this week after winning NWOSAAs in Marathon last week!
The Rainy River High School Senior Girls Basketball team is the first team since 1995 to go to the All Ontarios in basketball!
Two weeks ago they took their 9-3 season to Kenora to compete for NORWOSAA gold. They had to play a semi-final game to make it to the finals. They did that and then beat the Kenora St. Thomas Aquinas Saints to win gold and a berth to last week’s NWOSSA playoffs.
Last week the team travelled to Marathon to face the home town Falcons. They would play the best of three games to determine who would advance to the provincial championships.
Coach Rebecca Tolen thought the Owls were going to take care of the Falcons fairly readily in the first game Thursday morning. “We were up by 15 at the half!” But then things went south in a matter of minutes. “We fell apart for about five minutes. We could not make a basket and our defense let up for a few minutes.” Neither Tolen or assistant coach Tiffany Rittau could attribute the collapse to any one thing. It could have been nerves or even just switching sides at the half.
Well that meant the team had to battle hard to get the win. “We outscored them for the rest of the game,” said Tolen.
Then it came down to Kaylee Heyens needing to make a foul shot to tie the game. She made it and the feeling was electric. “I was so nervous I don’t think I sat down the entire second half,” said Tolen. It was 34-34 with 19 seconds to go.
Both teams held each other off the scoreboard to force a four minute over-time. When it was over the Owls won 41-39.
Game 2 was at 3 p.m. (RR time) and saw the Owls play their game like they know how. “They did not score any points on us until 12 minutes into the game,” said Tolen. She credited 6’1” Centre Rylee Mowe for a good deal of that statistic. “She stuffed them at least 40 times. Nothing that came out of their hands made it to the basket!” Both Tolen and Rittau said that all the players contributed with many of them scoring points.
In the end the Owls dominated, scoring 31 points and holding the Falcons to just 14 pts.!
Tolen said that the Falcons were the toughest zone defense team they have played all season. “They held the zone well, almost to their own detriment.” She explained that the Falcons forced the Owls to start shooting from outside. “When Chelsey Brown scored back to back 3 pointers it forced them to come out of the zone to get us!” That opened things up for the Owls.
The two games won in Marathon were the Falcons’ first losses of the year and Tolen said they were gracious in defeat. “Everyone was so nice there. They held a pep rally, introduced us and cheered for us! The Falcons were also the most sportsmanlike team we faced all year!”
Now the Owls take flight, literally, for Welland, Ontario where 15 teams from all over Ontario will compete for All Ontario Gold! They are leaving Rainy River today for Winnipeg and flying east on Wednesday morning.
With Rainy River being about as far away as a school can get in Ontario to compete in the OFSAA tournament, there are huge costs involved.
Tolen, who is the local chair of KidSport, spoke to the Ontario head of the organization. Having a partnership with WestJet, KidSport asked for help from the Airline and ended up getting the Owls five free round-trip tickets! “That is so awesome!” said Tolen on Monday. They bought three more with air miles at a cheaper rate and had to buy four at regular rates.
As word spread last Thursday of the Owls win, RRHS alumni started making donations to the team even before they were back in Rainy River! “The support has been amazing already!” said Tolen.
They are selling 50/50 tickets and plans are in the works for a spaghetti dinner after they return.
Tolen’s sister, Hanna Carter, formerly of Fort Frances, heard about the team coming to Welland and offered her house as a place to stay. She lives 20 minutes from where the event is being held. “She had been to OFSAAs with volleyball and soccer when she was in Fort. She knew how much it can cost and wanted to help.”
Skills competitions are Wednesday afternoon as are coaches meetings. Then games begin on Thursday morning.
Since RRHS has not been to the All Ontarios for 15 years they will be going as an unseeded team. As of Monday morning none of the schedule had been posted nor had any of the other teams that will be there. “We are going in blind. Without team names we can’t do any scouting (on line). But I look at it this way. I am very excited to be one of the 15 teams there. What happens there happens!”
Both coaches said that they are a bit nervous but more excited. They also said the girls are really excited. For some of them it is the first time they have flown, so the experience is exciting for more reasons than just the games.
Two of the seniors, Rylee Mowe and Audrey Chojko-Bolec will be making their swan song at the All Ontarios. This is their last year. That means most of the team will be back next year. Also the Owls Jr. Girls Basketball team who went undefeated all season and won NORWOSAA gold (as far as juniors can go) will have six players moving up to the senior level. It looks like this year could be the beginning of a good few years for the program and RRHS!
Congratulations and good luck girls! Bring us home the gold!