U16

The team traveled to Peterborough last weekend for a one-day pre-season tournament hosted by Peterborough Power. This provided an excellent opportunity to log valuable court time ahead of their OBL season and their pursuit of another Division Championship.

In their opening game, the girls fell short against the West Ottawa Hornets, losing 38-45. However, they shook off their nerves, elevated their defensive intensity, and bounced back with wins over Kingston Impact and the host team, Peterborough Power—both ranked higher than the Spirits in the OBL.

Season Outlook: Building on last season’s OBL Division Championship in the same age group and with the addition of talented new players complementing a strong returning core, this year promises to be just as thrilling. The Spirits kick off their season this Saturday in Toronto, taking on the North Toronto Huskies and Dundas Dynamo.

Coach McGrath

The Spirits Merch Store is open for Christmas orders! Place yours now through November 24🎄🏀

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Bay of Quinte Girls Basketball Leagues’s High School All-Star Games took place at Bayside Secondary in October 24

Junior teams consisted of:

Senior teams consisted of:

Coached by: Ryan Barbeau and Hayley Davies

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By most standards, this year’s U16 team was relatively young, comprised of nine Grade 9 players and two Grade 10 players. With only three returning players from last year’s U14 team, the girls quickly grasped the importance of teamwork, learning to support one another while building trust and recognizing each player’s unique strengths on the court.

The team finished the season with an impressive record of 22 wins and 10 losses, reaching the finals in all three tournaments they participated in and achieving an OBL record of 8 wins and 4 losses. Heading into the Ontario Cup, the U16s were ranked 4th overall in Division 3, with a favorable schedule in their pool that positioned them well for a shot at the medal rounds on Sunday.

Unfortunately, in their first game on Friday night, they faced a very fast Inter City Saints team that shot the ball exceptionally well and went on to surprise other teams throughout the weekend. Losing the first game of the Ontario Cup can be disheartening, but the girls rebounded, winning both of their games on Saturday by impressive margins, setting up a semi-final match against the Brampton Warriors at 8:30 AM on Sunday. With momentum on their side, they secured a 19-point victory, earning a rematch against Inter City.

In the practices leading up to the Ontario Cup, the girls had agreed that regardless of the stakes, they would win their last game of the season—and they did just that. To add to the excitement, they triumphed in the Gold Medal game by a remarkable 30 points.

Congratulations to the entire team! Winning is a by-product of dedication, commitment, and hard work. You should be incredibly proud of your accomplishments this season and the progress you’ve made in your development. A special thank you to team managers Allison McKeown and Julie Wilson for keeping everything organized and on schedule, and to assistant coach Dave Potts for his invaluable support during practices and games, helping to navigate the highs and lows of coaching teenage girls.

Coach McGrath

Words from Coach de Vries: 

Parents; thank you! Driving kids to practice and back, and weekends, watching, and cheering, bleacher butt and all. For the inevitable consoling, explaining, listening, and guiding that is part of being a parent, but maybe moreso if your child plays sports. Thank you parents!

Spirits, the unseen; thank you! Erin, Dylan, Mitch, Sara, sponsors, fellow coaches, and any others I have surely missed. For support without glory. Thank you!

Rachel, my most worthy fellow coach; thank you! For your time, and teaching, and calm in my storm, for understanding these girls when all is foggy to me. Thank you!

Spirits….don’t let Rachel get too busy for basketball. She is a positive force for this club.

In our first team meeting I explained how easy my job as coach was. Just three simple tenets:

RESPECT the game and all associated with it.

BE BETTER. Strive to help everyone who wants it – including me – to be better at basketball.

YOUR TEAM. This is your team girls and all the opportunity and responsibility that comes with that. Rachel and I will work hard to get you to where you want to go with basketball but this is your team.

 And what a team it has become!

Started off in Pool D of OBL. Winning all games by too much. Then to Pool C, where we easily belonged, playing better teams but still mostly winning. Tournaments gave us better competition, better learning opportunities, and more team confidence. Our 59 – 33 gold medal win over Kingston (a Pool B team) in the IEM tournament gave us a real glimpse of possibilities. In Durham, early April, we had two very tenacious wins over Barrie and Durham, again putting us in the gold game. Thunder Bay beat us by 3 points, but, given our injuries and a few bad bounces, we  were right with them the whole game.

 This team has an identity and, as a group, they embraced that identity. First and foremost, defense. Everyone, everywhere, always. Pesky, persistent, patient, always an attitude that it is our ball and we are coming to get it! Relentless defence. Then rebounding. We grew from hands in the air hoping for the ball to owning space on the floor, securing rebounds, and push, push, push, in transition. These girls figured out who they were, who they could be, as a team. And stuck to it. Believed it.

As a team we learned several different motion and zone offense strategies. When something wasn’t working the girls would themselves initiate a change in our offense. Seeing the game! So amazing to witness.

 CHAMPIONS, GOLD MEDAL, POOL 1 OBA CUP. CHAMPIONS! Below OBLX your U16 girls are the best in the province for OBA.

Eighteen days after the gold medal game and I still pinch myself with that reality.

How? We lost our first game to Kingston by one point. What a battle. Win or lose those are the games that build character, and show character. Onward. Defeated Kitchener by 11 points, then a rematch with Thunder Bay. As a coach I hope to teach enough so that I can get out of the way and let the girls play. Certainly the case in this game. These girls were simply not going to lose this one. Thirteen point victory. Into gold game vs Barrie. We went down 10 – 2 very early, but again, credit to this group, they pivoted their approach and got it back, one basket at a time. Five point victory in the end against a very worthy adversary.

 Sport can build memories. For life. This season can be a life memory for you girls. For Avery, Carys, Emery, Grace, Hannah, Lou, Mak, Nyomi, Samantha, and Syrena. Embrace it! Enjoy it! Build forward from it!

Thank you girls! For all this season has been. Thank you!