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OT seniors conclude perfect season By Kevin Nagel METROLAND MEDIA GROUP 27 · Wednesday, November 14, 2012 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils knew their third match-up of the season against the Burlington Central Trojans would be tougher than the first two. And it was. OT used a bigger, stronger roster to eventually wear down the game Trojans, winning the Halton high school senior girls Tier 2 basketball championship 43-30 Friday afternoon at Sheridan College. For the Red Devils, it was the third trip to the final in the 10 years coach Joyce Vaive has been there, and the second win. "(Central) came out loosey-goosey and I warned our players," said Vaive. "We had major problems in the first quarter." Central, which lost 53-27 to OT in regular-season play, solved the Red Devils' full court press in the first quarter by hitting some spectacular low-percentage passes and shots to actually lead 14-13 near the end of the quarter. Danielle Haney supplied six of her teamhigh nine points with two three-pointers. "As the game went on we went back to the full court pressure," said Vaive. "I think that made the difference. It makes us more aggressive." A veteran and a rookie supplied the offence for the Oakville side, with Dani Nafekh, a Grade 11 student who will be back next year, and Grade 9 blue-chip prospect Olivia Wilson scoring 16 and 12 points, respectively. As soon as Central took the first-quarter lead, Wilson and Nafekh hit consecutive baskets for the Red Devils, and a third, this time from three-point range by Nafekh, gave OT a 20-14 advantage heading into the second quarter. From there, the Devils' lead increased to seven at the half, eight by the end of the third quarter and eventually 13 at the final buzzer. "(Central) was definitely our biggest competition this year," said Nafekh, who plays rep basketball in Scarborough and is hoping to land a scholarship to a U.S. school when high school ends in 2014. Stephanie Desgagne contributed six points to the Devils' cause while Sasha Bertusa and Chantelle Andree also had six each for the Trojans. OT's Halton Tier 2 win, going undefeated in league play, leads to questions of whether the Red Devils might have chosen to play Tier 1. "If I had known back in June -- when you make these decisions -- what I know now -- yes," said Vaive. "We had no idea what our incoming Grade 9 players would be and ended up getting a tall post player (Wilson, as a starter) and No. 7 and 8 players on our depth chart. Hopefully we'll be back to Tier 1 next year." Wilson is part of the reason Vaive is considering Tier 1. "She has huge potential," said Vaive. "Very co-ordinated, runs the floor well, rebounds (well) but not just because of her height. She tracks the ball and positions herself well. I look forward to working with her the next three years." And point guard Nafekh? "She's our quarterback," said Vaive. "She leads by example, a hard worker. A great outside shooter and probably the best passer I have ever had the privilege of coaching in all my years at Oakville Vytis and at OT." While the Halton Tier 2 title ended OT's season, Central was still alive. The Trojans were slated to play St. Thomas Aquinas in Oakville yesterday (Tuesday) in the first step toward a possible Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations berth at the AA level. MICHAEL IVANIN / SPECIAL TO THE OAKVILLE BEAVER EXCUSE ME: Alyssa Wain of the Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils (with ball) heads to the basket while Burlington Central's Sasha Bertusa defends during Friday's Halton senior girls' basketball Tier 2 final. OT downed the Trojans 43-30. Blakelock avenges lone regular-season loss in junior T2 final By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLEBEAVERSTAFF To look at the stats, the T.A. Blakelock Tigers should have been clear favourites to win the Halton junior girls' basketball Tier 2 title. Blakelock led the league in scoring, averaging a whopping 14 points per game more than its nearest rival. And that didn't come at the expense of defence. The Tigers also allowed the second-fewest amount of points. But there was one blight on an otherwise perfect season -- a 48-25 loss to the Garth Webb Chargers in the second week of the season. "I think we underestimated them," said the Tigers' Stephanie Findlay. It would have been easy to. After all, the Chargers' basketball history at that point consisted of just one game. Blakelock had no way of knowing Oakville's newest school would go through the season without tasting defeat. Friday, the Tigers got a second chance against the Chargers in the Halton final at Sheridan College. And this time they would not make the same mistake. Led by Anastasia Levrault's 16 points, the Tigers handed Garth Webb its first basketball loss, 49-34, to capture the Halton title. One could assume that Garth Webb was at a disadvantage, with an entire Grade 9 lineup, except that the Tigers had little more experience. Sarah Thomas was the only Grade 10 starter for the Halton champs. What Blakelock did have was an advantage in height, which it capitalized on to gain a rebounding edge. Webb compensated by forcing turnovers, but the Chargers' MICHAEL IVANIN / SPECIAL TO THE OAKVILLE BEAVER JUST DRIVING BY: Stephanie Findlay of the T.A. Blakelock Tigers (with ball) drives past Garth Webb's Alexia Rhooms Friday at Sheridan College. Blakelock defeated the Chargers 49-34 in the Halton junior girls' basketball Tier 2 final. inability to capitalize on those chances ultimately cost them. "We missed a lot of layups. We make those and we're tied at the half," said Chargers coach Jay Anderson. "(Blakelock) came out and they were hitting everything. I mean, a girl has her back to the basket and tosses it over her shoulder and it goes in." That was Mikaela Duric, capping an 8-0 Tigers run to open the second half that extended her team's 10-point halftime lead to 32-14. The strong second half became a Blakelock trademark since its early-season loss to Webb. Shortly after that game, the Tigers entered a Tier 1 tournament in which they beat Tier 1 finalists Holy Trinity and lost to Nelson (10-1) by one point in the final. "We had to play (Webb) the same way we played those Tier 1 teams," said Findlay, who had nine points in the Halton final. "We had to keep playing hard in the second half." The Tigers were consistent from beginning to end with 10 to 14 points in each quarter. Defensively, Webb only hit double figures in one quarter, scoring 16 in the fourth when the game was already out of reach. Kiana Steinauer had nine of her team-leading 13 points in the quarter. Despite her team's loss, she said the Chargers accomplished a lot in their first season. "We had no gym at the beginning of the season. We had only practised once when we played our first game," she said. "It's definitely disappointing losing in the final but we're proud of ourselves." While the Chargers were an unknown coming into the season, so were the Tigers. "We heard that we had some good Grade 9s coming in, but you never know until you see them," said Blakelock coach Scott Stevens. "They got better as the season went See Tigers, page 28