Junior Toilers Wrestle JV Cougars

Fourteen was a big number for the Peacock Toilers junior girls team as they took on the combined JV girls team from Briercrest Christian Academy and Cornerstone Christian School Cougars on Monday evening.

Playing in front of decent sized crowd the Toilers did not lack enthusiasm as they ran into an experienced Cougars ready to use the press and their strength to force turnovers.

The Toilers would trail the Cougars by 14 points throughout a large part of the game.

The Toilers responded with good defence but in the end lost 49 - 38.

“Honestly the girls played a really good game. They ran the ball well. They played really good defence so overall I’m proud of them,” Toilers head coach Ceanna Bruce said.

Bruce said it was “obviously not the outcome we hoped for. But again they’re a JV team and we put up a pretty good battle.”

The Toilers often found themselves grappling with the Cougars for ball control.

The Cougars were able to make three good clean steals by grabbing the ball from a Toiler player’s hands and on two occasions the Toilers fought the issue to the floor and a jump ball.

The Cougars were too aggressive in the third quarter and found themselves in foul problems with just over six and a half minutes left in the quarter.

The Toilers were able to force four fouls in the bonus slot and scored 50 percent of their free throws or four points.

“Honestly I think that’s pretty fantastic compared to a couple of games we’ve had,” she said about the 50 percent free throw average.

“Our girls are good shooters it is just whether or not they are on on the night. I think tonight was pretty good.”

The Toilers ran into situations where it took three or more shots with offensive rebounding to score a basket.

In field goal territory the Cougars were strong and used three pointers to build the initial 14 point lead.

For their part the Toilers responded with a couple of three pointers from difficult angles while under heavy pressure.

Bruce said she was OK with the Toilers shooting percentages pointing out that teams usually don’t average over 50 percent on shots anyhow.

The Toilers faced a very good fast break and the press from the Cougars.

The Toilers are working to improve themselves especially against an older and more experienced opponent.

JV teams can have players up to grade 12 while junior teams are made up of grade nine and grade ten students.

“I’m planning not to panic against the pass as well. Obviously after Christmas was the first press we saw so that’s something we are working on.”

“It’s definitely a different calibre of ball especially when we play these JV teams that have grades twelves and we have a team full of grade nines. It’s a huge learning opportunity for the girls but I think they’re rising to the occasion.”