U17 Women’s National Championships- Ontario Victorious
FOLLOW ELIAS SBIET @ESBIET AND NPH @NORTHPOLEHOOPS
WINNIPEG,MB–The 2011 17U Women’s National Championships presented many intense games that were decided in the last seconds; however, Team Ontario was not a participant in any of those games. This team coached by the defensive minded, Janine Day; who had won two gold medals in 2008 and 2009 with the 15U’s of Ontario, wasn’t seriously challenged all week long. On Friday evening, in what was supposed to be the game of the week, Ontario dominated against a very talented Quebec team. The 17U gold medal game was no different as Ontario had their way the U17 British Columbia team which included three Team Canada Cadette players. It ended with a punishing 80-41 score. 
The reason for such a lob sided score was a result of two things. Firstly, the high octane offense of Ontario was too much for the slower BC team to handle. This offense requires that all five players are active and on their toes on every possession. Secondly, BC’s offense was very stagnant and looked for their star Alicia Roberts to carry them. One thing that was surprising to most spectators is that Anmol Mattu, who is also a cadette team member, was limited in minutes. She made an immediate positive impact every time she stepped onto the hardwood. Mattu pitched in for nine out of BC’s 41 points in only 15 minutes of play. This is reason to believe that had she played 30 minutes alongside Roberts, this would have been a great duo at the guard positions, as they are both hungry scorers and aggressive defenders.
MVP of the tournament, Dakota Whyte had 11 points with two minutes and 30 seconds to play in the second quarter, which was one shy of what the whole BC team had scored by this point. The player of this game was Katie Polischuk, who shot 60% and went 4/5 from 3-point land, finishing with 16. Taijah Campbell also had a big game. Campbell was physical and battled for position to pick up 12 rebounds.
NPH would like to congratulate the whole OBA organization on their extensive success in this year’s National Championships. Furthermore, we would like to thank the countless volunteers, Basketball Manitoba, Basketball Ontario, and Basketball Canada for making these experiences possible.
