Owls play well at All Ontarios

By Ken Johnston
Editor

While they did not bring home All Ontario gold, the Rainy River High School Sr. Girls Basketball team had a good experience last week.
Travelling to Welland, Ont. last Wednesday, the NWOSSA champions, had the school’s first trip to the Single ‘A’ All Ontarios (OFSAA) in basketball since 1995.
Their very first game, was the first game of the tournament and the 11th seeded RRHS (Owls) faced the #1 seeded team Confédération. The Owls were shut out in the first quarter 18-0, but bounced back with 11 points in the 2nd. At the half it was 28-11. The Owls only managed 14 points over the next two quarters and lost 55-25. Scoring for the Owls were Kaylee Heyens-11, Chelsey Brown-7, Courtney Hansen-5 and Jaylene Anderson-2.
Coach Rebecca Tolen said, “The number 1 ranked team just came back from a quad ‘A’ tournament. They were really good.”
Tolen was pleased with how the girls played all their games, “We played to the best of our ability. We have not seen teams of this caliber before.”
In their second game the Owls faced 6th ranked Algonquin. “We did really well against this team,” said Tolen. When it was all over, the Owls only lost by eight pts. 33-25. “We were in it right up until the final few minutes,” said Tolen in a phone interview Monday. It was 9-3 for Alg. after the first and 19-9 after two for Alg. It was a nine point game after three with the Owls down 26-17. Scoring for the Owls were Kaylee Heyens-13, Courtney Hansen-5, Chelsey Brown-4, Rylee Mowe-2 and Audrey Chojko-Bolec-1.
The loss sent the Owls to the consolation tournament.
They faced 14th ranked Runnymede in the 1/4 finals. This was another close game with the Owls losing and getting eliminated 25-33.
After one it was 6-4 for Run. and 15-11 for Run. at the half. The Owls kept it close the rest of the game with Run. leading 24-19 after three. Scoring for the Owls were Kaylee Heyens-13, Jaylene Anderson-4, Rylee Mowe-4, Courtney Hansen-2 and Lindsay Bourre-2.
Tolen said that the team was so excited to make it to the All Ontarios. “Making OFSAAs was great. Everything that came after was just a bonus!”
She said that they learned a great deal from watching other teams play. “We don’t see that level of play here and learned things we can incorporate into our program.”
Next year only two seniors will be leaving the senior team and six of this year’s undefeated juniors will be moving up. “I think we will do great in the next few years as we have so many good basketball players in the program.”
The team is holding a spaghetti dinner this Thursday at RRHS at 6 p.m. as a fund-raiser for the trip. They are also holding a 50/50 draw as well.
Tolen said the experience was good and she is hopeful that the Owls will be flying back to OFSAAs in the near future.