The U19 Women headed to Kingston on Friday May 12 for the Ontario Cup Division 4 Championships. They were seeded # 4 in Pool A with games scheduled against the Grimsby Grizzlies, Toronto Lords and Niagara Rangers. After the pool games on Saturday there is a cross over game against Pool B on Sunday.
Friday night was a rematch against Grimsby who the Hurricanes had beaten by 4 points earlier in the season in a league game. Huntsville started on fire defensively and broke out to a 15 - 1 lead. The Hurricanes were consistent the entire game won going away 58 - 33. Piper Long (13 points) and Jenna Gill (13) lead the team in scoring with Lauryn Oliver (6) and Justine McNaughton (6) chipping in. It was the best team defensive game of the year so far.
Saturday morning saw a grudge match against the Toronto Lords who had lost by only 5 points to the Hurricanes earlier this season. Huntsville started a little slower but pulled away as the game moved on to win 55 -36. Lauryn Oliver (14 points) lead the team in scoring with Jenna Gill (14) and Adriene Moffat (12) also hitting double digits. The defense ramped up to a new level in the second half.
Saturday afternoon had two undefeated teams fighting for the right to play in the gold medal game on Sunday with the lose quqlifying for the bronze medal game. The Niagara Ramblers were the opponents and jumped out to a first quarter 9 point lead. The Hurricanes ramped up the defense and out scored the Ramblers 20-6 in the second quarter and never look back and finished a strong fourth quarter up 67-36. Lauryn Oliver had a career high 27 points with Piper Long (13) and Justine McNaughton (10) rounding out the top scorers.
Next up for the Hurricanes in the gold medal game Sunday was Brantford CYO who won pool B. Brantford was a well coached team with terrific team defense and two outstanding three point shooters among their skill set. Huntsville jumped out to a quick 5 - 3 lead but after several minutes of no one scoring Brantford started to take control and lead 13 - 9 after one period. In the second period the Hurricanes offense picked up, in a very physcial game, with both Oliver and McKenna Allen hitting 3 point shots and getting to half time at 22 points each. The third quarter the Hurricanes again hit two three point shots (from Moffatt and McNaughton) and continued to pressure the Brantford team full court, leading 36 - 30 at the end of the period. The fourth quarter the teams continued to go back and forth with the full court pressure starting to wear on the Brantford club. In the end, the Hurricanes prevailed 45 - 39 to win the gold medal.
With most of the team graduating and moving on, it was a terrific way to end an incredible season of a team who truly enjoyed spending time and playing basketball together.
