U14
Spirits Merch open for Holiday Orders
The Spirits Merch Store is open for Christmas orders! Place yours now through November 24🎄🏀
Click here to order: https://candbcustom.ca/collections/belleville-spirits
U14 de Vries Makes a Fierce OBL Debut
The U14 DeVries team made an impressive debut in their first OBL games of the season. They opened strong against a much larger Peterborough Power team, showcasing relentless defense, high energy, and speed. Pushing the game into overtime, they ultimately fell short by just one basket, closing with a tight 46-44 loss.
In their second game, the U14s faced off against the Cali Girls. Their full-court press was relentless, holding the opposition to just 1 point in the first half. With a comfortable lead, the Spirit girls eased up on the press and finished with a solid 45-27 victory.
Standout performances included Kyrah Currin and Abigail Whiten, whose ball-handling set the pace. Ciara Lewis, Aylie Heffernan, Liberty Bergen, Sawyer Crisp, and Shelby Brant brought speed and strong defense, while Raya Holoway contributed with her three-point shooting. Myla Empey, Mac Weaver, and Nora Gabourie were relentless in rebounding efforts.
This talented group has shown that it’s going to be an exciting and competitive season. Their dedication to defense and tenacity on the court are truly impressive. Coaches Gord and Steph were thrilled with the girls’ performances—well done, ladies!
Spirits Merch
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U14 Callahan 2023-2024 Season Recap
The 2023/24 U14 Callahan girls Spirits concluded the season with an impressive 25-11 record, earning a bronze medal in the D2 provincials. They finished the season with arguably their strongest performance, defeating a tough Huron Laker team by 19 points after competing in two closely contested games earlier in the season, winning one and losing one.
Season highlights included gold medal victories at the Mike O’Connor tournament in Ottawa and the Blessed Sacrament tournament in Hamilton. Notably, the girls showcased their skill by winning against D1 teams like Oakville and Brantford, demonstrating their ability to compete with the top 10 teams in the province. Throughout the season, they faced challenging competition, as Coach Tom and Darrell opted to enter AAA tournament pools whenever possible, believing that playing against the best is the key to improvement.
As the season began, it took some time for the team to bond. We welcomed first-year players, had returning players, and added a new, fiery head coach known for receiving technical fouls and occasionally getting ejected—sorry to disappoint you, Sara! However, the girls quickly gelled, adapting to the coaches’ desired style of play, which yielded results on the court. Their aggressive, trapping full-court defense combined with a fast-paced transition offense made them a formidable opponent.
As a coach, I notice subtle developments in my players that may go unnoticed by others, whether in games or practice. These small improvements often emerge after weeks or months of hard work, and they bring immense joy to a coach, making the effort worthwhile. When these incremental advancements accumulate, the results are reflected on the scoreboard. Coaches are incredibly proud of your successes as a team and, more importantly, of the progress you all made as individual players throughout the season.
U14 Shakell 2023-2024 Season Recap
The U14 Shakell team finished the year with a 15-10 record, successfully winning our division in the OBL regular season. We secured a bronze medal at the Mike O’Connor tournament, where we faced Nepean in our only loss. Additionally, we earned a silver medal at the County Clippers tournament, showcasing strong performance throughout.
At the Ontario Cup, we also took home a bronze medal, with just one loss to our name. Despite starting the season with limited experience, the girls consistently improved in all aspects of the game, peaking in performance during April. It was a rewarding season and a job well done!
U14 Callahan Div 2 Ontario Cup Bronze
The Belleville Spirits U14 Callahan girls travelled to Niagara this past weekend to compete at the Ontario Cup Provincial playoff.
As the 3 seed in Division 2, the girls we were positioned to compete for a medal.
Opening game on Friday night was against the Barrie Royals who Belleville had already beaten once earlier in the season.
Belleville jumped on Barrie early with their trapping defense, forcing turnovers which lead to transition baskets.
Leading 26-15 at the half, Belleville cruised to a 56-31 win.
Sofia Edgett led the scoring with 27 points, followed by Rose Hanna with 12 and Kyrah Currin with 8.
Game 2 Saturday morning presented another familiar opponent, the Windsor Lady Suns.
Again, the Spirits defense was too much for the Suns to handle. Windsor could only muster 11 first half points and Belleville kept up the offensive pace winning 55-23.
A balanced scoring attack lead by Edgett 22, Hanna 11, Currin 7, both Peyton Pleasance and Kaylynn Dutton with 6 apiece.
A gold medal berth was on the line in game #3 as Belleville faced another 2-0 team, the St. Thomas Shock.
Spirits jumped out to an early 8-0 lead but were unable to put any more distance between them and St. Thomas.
Despite too many uncharacteristic turnovers and missed free throws, Belleville maintained a 30-25 lead at the half.
Unfortunately, the turnovers and missed scoring opportunities were too much to overcome and St. Thomas came away with a 57-49 win, bumping Belleville to the bronze medal game against the Huron Lakers.
Edgett and Hanna lead the scoring again with 23 and 15 respectively. Currin, Pleasance and Myla Empey all with 4.
Getting fired up for a bronze medal game after a disappointing loss can be tough but the girls understood the assignment.
They still had something to play for and ending the season with a win no matter the circumstances, should always be the goal.
Belleville has a win and a loss against Huron during the season, both very competitive and physical games. With only one result in mind on Sunday morning, the Spirits dominated the game from start to finish.
Frustrating Huron with their smothering defense and then pushing the pace on offense, Belleville put together their best all around game of the year, ending up with a 43-24 bronze medal win.
Edgett-24, Hanna-12.
Belleville ends the season ranked in the top 20 in Ontario and the top team in Eastern Ontario.
Thanks to team sponsors Patriot Excavating, Stegg, Free Flow, Sprague Foods, Workspace Office Solutions, Build All Contractors, and Watson Land Surveyors Ltd
u14 Callahan girls leave Blessed Sacrament 4-0 with a gold medal
By: Jessyka Maliksi
HAMILTON – After a long two days of battling, the Belleville Spirits u14 Callahan girls came up on top, bringing home the gold medal.
Last weekend, the girls competed at the Blessed Sacrament Tournament in Hamilton.
Starting their Saturday off with an early morning game against Milton Stags. They started off strong, winning the first half 31-9.
The girls kept the same energy up going into the second half, playing and working together to defeat their first opponent 52-25.
#9 Sofia Edgett leading the team with 18 points, while #8 Peyton Pleasance added 10.
After a few hours of rest, the girls were back on the court against Thornhill Thunder.
The second game was a big team effort win, especially on the defensive end. The girls held the Thunder to one point going into the second half.
The Spirits finished with a 40 point win, finishing 50-10.
The girls played as team, having 10 of their players finishing with two or more points.
#7 Shelby Brant finishing with a team high of 9 points, Edgett adding 8.
The girls finished their Saturday with a huge performance on both ends of the court. Totaling 103 points for the day, while only having 35 points scored against them.
Saturday’s energy carried on to their Sunday morning game.
The girls now have a chance to head to the finals.
The girls needed to win their next game against Oakville Vytis – Islips to clinch their spot in a gold medal game, and that’s exactly what they did.
Using their winning momentum from the day before, the girls came out on top once again, defeating Vytis – Islips by 25 (51-26).
Edgett leading the way with 16 points, and #5 Kyrah Currin adding her own 8.
The girls were now on their way to the gold medal game against a talented Oakville Vytis – McWilliams team.
They’re looking to go undefeated on the weekend.
Battling the whole way through, never giving up and never losing sight of the end goal, the girls were able to tie the game at 24 going into the second half.
In a nail biting game, the girls played their hearts out until the final buzzer.
Vytis – McWilliams came out to play.
But so did the Spirits.
After a game of back and forth scoring, the girls pulled through with a five point win bringing home the gold.
Edgett finished with a huge 28 points to bring the team to their 4-0 weekend. #23 Rose Hanna adding 10 points.
This weekend the girls are going into their Ontario Cup Provincial weekend as Blessed Sacrament gold medalist.
u14 Callahan girls Ontario Cup Schedule:
When: April 26-28, 2024
Where: Meridian Community Centre 2
Friday, April 26:
6pm vs. Barrie Royals u14 G
Saturday, April 27:Â
1:30pm vs. WPA Lady Suns u14
6pm vs. St. Thomas Shock u14 – Girls
Sunday, April 28:
TBDÂ
U14 Spring Team Tryouts
U14 Spring Team tryouts start after Ontario Cup! 🏀
All players born 2010 & 2011 welcome!
➡️ Tuesday April 30th and Thursdsy May 2nd
➡️ Practices will be Mondays and Thursdays starting the following week at BSS
➡️ Weekend tournaments and games that may involve travel and hotel stays throughout May and June
For more info, or to sponsor this team, visit https://bellevillespirits.com/u14springteam/
U14 Season Recap
The u14 major bantam team consisted of seven grade 7’s and four grade 8’s.
They played in the OBL under division 5 competing against AA teams.
It was a season full of growth and development which eventually turned into meeting individual player milestones and team successes.
The overall record of the team was 25 wins and 5 losses.
Season highlights included winning gold in their division at the Mike O’Connor tournament, placing first in their pool in OBL with a 10 and 2 record, and going 4 and 0 at the Ontario Cup in Niagara Falls to win gold in their division. (Another highlight was beating rival Kingston Impact!).
Coach McGrath would like to thank his assistant coaches, Darrell Edgett and Justin Shakel for their help throughout the season.
Special thanks to Sara Rozema as the team manager and keeping everything organized and running smoothly.
Thank you to the Spirits executive for their hard work and dedication to keeping youth sports and specifically club basketball an important part of the Belleville community.
Scarlet
Madilyn
Alexa
Logan
Sofia
Hadley
Whitney
Paige
Rylee
Tess
Julia
U14 Spirits are Ontario Cup Gold Medal Champions!
The u14’s agreed on one goal….to win the final game of the season regardless of where they placed… and that is exactly what they did.
Niagara Falls was the final stop in the Spirits u14’s girls season as they attended the Ontario Cup finals this past weekend. All of their effort, dedication, teamwork and growth were on display in four action packed and exciting games that saw their families and fans cheering them on every step of the way.
The team went 3-0 in pool play, including a highly anticipated game versus the Kingston Impact team on Saturday morning, who had beat them twice before during the season.
It was a defensive battle at halftime, with a low score of 11-9 for Impact.
The girls dug deep in the second half, handling the constant full court pressure and scoring an incredible 32 points, leading to a 41-30 victory and more importantly, a spot in the gold medal game on Sunday versus a very talented Flamborough Fire team.
Battling another full court defense, it did not look promising early on for the girls, trailing 22-13 at half.
Showing a never quit attitude and the incredible support coming from team-mates and families backing them up, the girls made one final push in the 3rd quarter, outscoring Flamborough 20 – 8 and hanging on to win the gold medal game with a score of 38-35.
Incredible effort from all involved and an experience that will be remembered for a long time.
Thanks to everyone involved in making it a great season!
– Coach McGrath
