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

Posted in U14

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

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Posted in OBL, Ontario Cup, U14

This past weekend saw the U14 girls compete in their final OBL weekend before heading off to play in the Ontario Cup finals in Niagara Falls on April 29th/30th.

As expected following a long lay-off over March, the girls came out a little slow and sluggish in their first game versus Vaughan City. Turn-overs on offense and team defense led to a low scoring game, however the defensive intensity picked up late in the game enough to capture the win.
In the second game of the day, the lady Spirits faced off for the 3rd time against the Orangeville Hawks, with the tiebreaker on the line.  In this high scoring game, the girls picked up their intensity on individual and team defense, often times frustrating the Hawks into forced shots and turnovers.  Offensively, the girls faced yet another common 2-3 zone, however with much improved outside shooting and ball movement, the Hawks were forced to change-up their defense  but it didn’t seem to matter, as the Spirits walked away with a hard fought 44-38 W.
Through hard work and dedication, the u14’s end the OBL regular season with an impressive 10-2 record.  The girls would like to thank their sponsors for their financial support throughout the season.
Posted in OBL, U14
The u14’s hit the hardwood this past weekend, following a lengthy three week layoff from games. With an impressive record of 5-1 (tied for first place), prior to the OBL break, the girls moved up a pool in their division with 5 other teams.
Their first game was against the Orangeville Hawks, a team they beat earlier in the season, however after a sluggish start and some missed scoring opportunities, they were on the losing end of a 43-28 score.
Showing strong resilience, teamwork and overall effort, the u14’s went on to win the next three games of the weekend, one of which was against the top seeded North York Lions who they lost to earlier in the season.
Both individual and team defense, ball movement and passing, shooting and free-throws were all keys in the successful weekend.
With a potential tri-meet for the end of March and two OBL games in April, the girls will be travelling to Niagara Falls to compete in the year end Ontario Cup.
The team has an overall record of 8-2 in league play and 14-5 overall!
Great work ladies!
Posted in OBL, U14

By BROCK ORMOND, from InQuinte.ca

The U14 Belleville Spirits basketball team took the mantle of ‘golden girls’ on the weekend.

The Spirits clinched the Division 3 gold medal at the Mike O’Connor Memorial Tournament in Orleans (near Ottawa) on Sunday with a 35-14 victory over the Kanata Selects.

That win capped off a 4-0 weekend for the Spirits after they defeated a pair of teams from Nepean by scores of 40-20 and 63-18 and knocked off a Brockville Blazers squad 36-19 to book their ticket to the Gold Medal game.

Team members are as follows: #3 Scarlet Clarke, #4 Madilyn Whiten, #5 Alexa Drumm, #6 Logan Potts, #10 Sofia Edgett, #11 Hadley Rozema, #20 Whitney Milne, #25 Paige McGrath, #33 Rylee Baldini-Lazier, #40 Tess Shakell, #42 Julia Smith

Head Coach- Darrell McGrath, Assistant Coaches- Darrell Edgett, Justin Shakell, Manager- Sara Rozema

Visit the Spirits website or Facebook page to keep track of the organization through the rest of the season.

 

  

Posted in OBL, Tournaments, U14 and tagged , , , , , , ,

The U14 Spirit girls had another successful OBL weekend playing in Toronto, with two solid wins.

Their first game was versus first place Orangeville Hawks where the girls stepped up their defence in the second half and distributed the ball well on offence to finish with a 39-28 win. Whitney Milne lead all scorers with a career high 16 points, Sofia Edgett scoring 7, Julia Smith and Scarlet Clarke contributing 6 points each.

The girls came out firing on all cylinders versus Brampton Breakdown winning 45-11. Strong team effort from all girls on both ends of the floor. Paige McGrath lead the way with a career high 18 points and Sofia Edgett with 14 points. Other scorers were Riley Baldini with 4 and Whitney Milne with 9.

The team is off to Ottawa next weekend to play in the @gcbawolverines Mike O’Connor Memorial Tournament.

 

Posted in OBL, U14

The Mike O’Connor Memorial Tournament is held in Ottawa every February to honor the late Mike O’Connor. The weekend is about bringing basketball clubs together to celebrate basketball and to continue developing skills. This year 87 teams took part!

The Spirits Atom (U12 – McGrath) and Bantam (U14 – Palleschi) teams were part of the tournament and played some competitive ball.

Congratulations to all players for their efforts in games and in the skills competitions.

A special shout out to the Bantam girls who brought home the bronze!!

 

Posted in Tournaments, U14

The Spirits finished the regular season with a 22-9 overall record, 10-2 in OBL pool B. The girls accepted the challenge of playing some of the top teams in the province and are a better team now for it. Looking forward to competing at the Ontario Cup.

Posted in U14