Caledon Cougars silver in Ontario Basketball championship

April 7, 2016 · 0 Comments

By Jake Courtepatte
The under-12 Caledon Cougars girls’ basketball team can hold their heads high as the second-best team in the province.
In a trip to close-by York Region last weekend, the Cougars went undefeated in round-robin play at the Ontario Cup, before meeting a tough Transway Basketball squad on Ontario’s biggest stage.
Competing in the eight-team division A, the top division in major atom basketball, the Cougars opened the tournament Friday by squeaking out a 42-39 upset victory over the top-seeded Ancaster Blitz in round-robin action. From there, they clawed through the fourth-seeded Toronto Basketball Club 21-20 and the Niagara Falls Red Raiders 44-15, to enter the championship game Sunday undefeated.
There they met the club from Transway Basketball in Hamilton, ranked third heading into the tournament. Falling behind by a large margin early, the Cougars were able to send the game to within one possession in the dying minutes, but eventually came up short in a 41-34 final.
The results are even more gratifying considering Caledon’s ranking. They entered the tournament as the fifth-ranked seed, meaning two of their three victories were considered upsets.
The U10 Cougar squad, competing in the top division of the Ontario Cup in London as the fifth-ranked team in the province, finished strong Sunday with a 23-20 win over Durham City in the fifth-place match up. After dropping the first two games of the tournament to Dundas and Wildhawk Basketball of Kitchener-Waterloo, the Cougars bounced back in their final round-robin game to defeat Brantford 21-20 to set up their Sunday game.
Sanctioned by Ontario Basketball, the Ontario Cup continues through to the end of May, with the U10, U11 and U12 boys taking to the hardcourt this coming weekend in London, Niagara and Milton respectively. More than 19,000 athletes and coaches from over 1,100 teams compete in the tournament across Ontario.
To learn more about the Caledon Cougars program, visit www.caledoncougars.ca

A Caledon Cougars player defends against a Transway Basketball ball carrier in the championship game of the under-11 Ontario Cup in London.
Photo courtesy of Ontario Basketball