U14
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:
1:30pm vs. WPA Lady Suns u14
6pm vs. St. Thomas Shock u14 – Girls
Sunday, April 28:
TBD
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
U14s final OBL weekend
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.
U14’s go 3-1 in OBL weekend #4
U14 Belleville Spirits golden in Orleans
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.
Another successful OBL weekend for U14s
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.
U14’s host tri-meet at St Theresa’s
The U14 Belleville Spirits would like to thank nteam sponsors Meta Employment Services and Amer Sports ahead of their tri-meet this weekend.
The major bantams are hosting County Clippers and Kingston Impact at St Theresa’s Catholic Secondary School.
5 Spirits teams play this weekend
All 5 Spirits teams will be playing a pair of games this weekend as the second half of the season starts with a bang.
