Girls Semi-Final: Collingwood vs. Aden Bowman (Alberta)

Key question leading into the match; How long would it take to walk from Handsworth to Aden Bowman high school?

Friday night lights featured the Collingwood Cavs hosting the Aden Bowman Bears travelling all the way from the tropical Saskatchewan.

Even though the Bears were far from their home court they had the support of their boys basketball team in the stands who were cheering on their classmates and potential girlfriends providing an early energy boost. The Bears also had a deep bench of 7 girls who were passionately encouraging their teammates with “defense, defence” chants on every defensive stand. After the 1st quarter the Bears only had a 14-13 lead but seemed to be the more energetic bunch.

The Bears came out strong in the second quarter and increased their lead to 9 with some clutch play in the paint and offensive boards from their forward Anna Wiebe who was playing like a young Sheryl Swoopes. If it wasn’t Anna putting the ball in the bucket it was her sister Ella who was must have been making their parents very proud.

The Cavs were defensively well structured with a zone defence but were struggling to find the loose balls in their own paint.

At half the Bears had a 7-point advantage leading 29-22.

Interestingly, at halftime, the Collingwood coaching staff utilized the 10-minute break to do an on-court offensive shape session and practice their ball movement. It was clear that the coach wanted to see her team look more composed and have some plays drawn up to get her team back in the game.

Apparently, the Cavs coach had her team’s attention as they seemed to come out looking like a different bunch in the second half. Back to back jump shots from Cav’s Muneet Gill brought them right back in the game lifting the spirits of the entire team. Kayleigh Garland was also inspired by these long-range shots as she followed this up with 2 layups giving the Cavs their first lead of the game.

At the end of the 3rd quarter the game was all tied up at 42.

Back and forth scoring was the theme of the 4th quarter as each team was trading buckets making more a tight contest. Muneet Gill and Anna Wiebe continued to be each team’s threats on the offensive side all while playing two very contrasting styles of ball. Gill was finding space for jump shots while Wiebe was using her strong body to pick up points in the low post.

Wiebe finished the game with a shared game high 24 points leading her team to a huge 62-54 Friday night victory. A terrific game as well by Gill who finished with 24 points.

It was a highly entertaining night of ball put forward by both teams and we wish them both all the best in their upcoming Saturday matches.

Answer: With a distance of 1,691 Kms, it would take approximately 350 hours for the Aden Bowman players to walk back home. We hope they have sorted out an alternative mode of transportation…