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Sports Oakville Beaver By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLEBEAVERSTAFF SPORTS EDITOR:JONKUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2012 23 Emily Carr gets defensive to win elementary basketball title ishes like a magnet, Gardiner picked up the pace and scored nine straight points to make it 19-17 with 1:23 remaining. A basket by Punchu Bavi, After lighting up opponents for 50 or more who had five points, gave the Thunderbirds a bit points in each of their last two games, the Emily of breathing room. Then, with 19 seconds remaining and Emily Carr Thunderbirds showed they could also win Carr up by three, Dipti Pandya had a chance to with defence. Despite their prolific scoring in the Halton put the game away. However, she missed two free elementary school basketball playoffs, the throws but quickly made up for it by grabbing her own rebound on the second Thunderbirds barely squeaked attempt and scoring to seal the by their previous opponents. "They came to practice victory. They rallied from three points really determined. Over Kiana Steinauer led the down in the final 15 seconds to the summer they went Thunderbirds with 12 points. beat Forest Trail 53-52 in the to basketball camps She also provided the winning Halton Central final and then because they really points in the Central final win pulled out a 50-46 victory in the wanted to get better." over Forest Trail. After Aashna region semifinals. Randhawa hit two free throws to "It was a tough ride just getpull Emily Carr within one, ting here," said Emily Carr coach Emily Carr coach Steinauer stole the ball and hit Brandon Wong, whose team held Brandon Wong the game-winning shot. off a late rally by the Gardiner Wong said he was glad to see Grizzlies for a 23-20 victory in his players rewarded after working so hard on Milton. But despite having success playing an up- their game. "They came to practice really determined," he tempo game, the Thunderbirds tried a different tactic in last Thursday's Halton final. Instead of said. "Over the summer they went to basketball pressing to force turnovers, Emily Carr slowed camps because they really wanted to get better. They improved. Their dribbling and rebounding things down. "We had everyone falling back and nobody was and court awareness were all better. And they pressing," Wong said. "We had to adjust to a came together as more of a team." Emily Carr became the first winner of the slower pace but we were able to get our defence Courville Cup, a new trophy that will be awarded ready." There was no arguing with the plan. The annually to the Halton elementary champion Thunderbirds allowed just four points in the each year. The trophy is named in honour of opening half and led 19-8 with five and a half Debra Courville, the former physical education minutes to play. But as if drawn to dramatic fin- co-ordinator for Halton who died last summer. MICHAEL IVANIN / SPECIAL TO OAKVILLE BEAVER THUNDERBIRDS SOAR AND ROAR: Aashna Randhawa, left, and Allie Zabudsky of the Emily Carr Thunderbirds celebrate as the final seconds tick off the clock in their 23-20 victory over the Gardiner Grizzlies in the Halton elementary girls basketball final last Thursday at E.C. Drury in Milton. Coyotes defend territory, win championship By Herb Garbutt UP COURT BATTLE: OAKVILLEBEAVERSTAFF Forest Trail's Diego Nunez moves the ball up court while being guarded by Burlington Central's Evan Lang in last Thursday's Halton elementary boys basketball final. Forest Trail held off a late rally by Central in the Coyotes' 33-27 victory. Each player led his team in scoring, Nunez with 15 and Lang with eight. MICHAEL IVANIN / SPECIAL TO OAKVILLE BEAVER After shutting down their opponents in the first half, the Forest Trail Coyotes were on their heels. An eight-point lead had been shaved to just two and now Burlington Central's leading scorer, Justin Carr, was driving toward the basket. Carr lifted his foot and raised the ball as he sprinted through the lane looking for the game-tying basket. He raised the ball to his shoulder and suddenly it was gone -- not headed for the basket but driven into the floor by Forest Trail's Nathaniel Littlejohn. Thirty seconds later, Littlejohn's basket put the Coyotes up 29-25 and would prove to be the winner in Forest Trail's 33-27 victory in last Thursday's Halton elementary boys basketball final. Littlejohn's block was just part of the story of Forest Trail's defensive dominance, that saw them hold a Central team that had averaged more than 45 points in its previous three playoff games to just 13 in the first half. The Coyotes did that by slowing down Central, whose coach James Lang described his team's offensive game plan as "running, running and running." "We saw that they liked to play a fast game," said Forest Trail coach Juan Nunez. "Everyone got back and didn't pressure them, just tried to make them beat us." While Central had some success early on, building a 12-8 lead, Forest Trail held the Trojans without a field goal from the midway point of the second quarter to the middle of the fourth. The Coyotes took control of the game, led by Diego Nunez and Stefan Kojovic, who helped Forest Trail go on a 13-1 run. See Forest, page 24