#2 "AA" Britannia Bruins vs Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs
On the last day of regular season play in Tier 1, the 6-0 #2 “AA” Britannia Bruins and 2-4 Churchill Bulldogs faced off at Churchill. The #2 “AA” Bruins were looking to preserve their undefeated record with a short bench of just eight players active while Churchill and their young team, comprised of mostly Grade 11 players, had an upset in their sights.
Right from the jump, Britannia came out of the gates attacking. The game started 6-2 in favour of the Bruins, but following the Bulldogs bucket, the visitors rattled off an 11-0 run behind #7 Surprise Munie and her eight point first quarter. Britannia would stay hot including a “3” from #10 Iftu Taju. With the time in the first quarter winding down and Churchill needing a bucket desperately, they went to #10 Elizabeth Jefferson who went coast-to-coast and got a runner to go at the buzzer. Thanks to the Bruins run, the score after one quarter was 26-6.
#10 Iftu Taju continued her strong play to start the second with a pair of steals and a driving right hand lay-up. The Britannia ball movement was great, as they were able to enter the ball inside capitalizing on their size, which collapsed the defence giving their guards drive lines at closing out defenders. Churchill stayed aggressive on offence with their speedy guards earning back-to-back trips to the free throw line, but they were only able to convert on one of the four free throws. #7 Surprise Munie of Britannia re-entered the game late in the second and drove through traffic for a tough finish on her first possession back. A drive and dish a few players later from #10 Iftu Taju resulted in a corner “3” for #7 Surprise Money. #10 Elizabeth Jefferson of Churchill used another aggressive take which earned her another trip to the line, but she had to settle for a split. Thanks to their defence the Bulldogs held the Bruins to just 11 points in the quarter. Score at the half 37-8.
Churchill stayed aggressive which got #3 Sabrina Cao a trip to the line where she split for the first points of second half. #6 Lucy Guan of the Bruins opened with a “3” which was followed by a nice “and 1” off of a drop step from #32 Malena Mokhovikova. Late in the quarter #5 Lenette Ponce of the Bulldogs split on another pair of free throws. Despite being undersized, the Churchill guards showed that they were not afraid of driving hard to the hoop to make something happen. #5 Shemaiah Abatayo came back and answered with a pull up jump shot for the Britannia. Towards the end of the quarter, #3 Sabrina Cao of the Bulldogs hit a TOUGH step back “3” which got her entire bench standing and celebrating. #32 Malena Mokhovikova had been a constant force throughout the game with a number of blocks, but none bigger than her swat erasing a jump shot from the smaller Bulldog player. #5 Lenette Ponce of Churchill got a left handed scoop lay-up to fall, but the Bruins closed out the quarter with another #10 Iftu Taju to #7 Surprise Munie connection. Score after three quarters was 53-16.
The final quarter started with #6 Nikitha Chopra of the Bulldogs getting a put back after grabbing an offensive rebound off of a missed Bulldog freethrow. She continued her impressive play as she had no easy task guarding and boxing out #32 Malena Mokhovikova of the Bruins. As #6 Nikitha Chopra was subbed out, #32 Malena Mokhovikova made some plays, first with a chase down block and then sprinting down the floor for a rim run, getting fouled and earning two points from the free throw line. Churchill continued to get stops which let their guards out in transition including a nice 2-on-1 break resulting in an easy two from #5 Lenette Ponce to #10 Elizabeth Jefferson. #10 Iftu Taju Bruins answered with her own lay up. The next bucket would be a deep “3” from #21 Tamia Edgar for Britannia. Churchill had found their groove has some nice ball movement freed #3 Sabrina Cao for an open “3” and #10 Elizabeth Jefferson got a nice reverse layup to fall. #7 Surprise Munie of Britannia knocked down a pull up jumper and on the next play saved the ball falling into the gymnasium wall with a thud, but her effort scored #5 Shemaiah Abatayo an open “3” that got nothing but net. #5 Shemaiah Abatayo would knock down one more jumper for good measure as the shot clock expired late in the fourth. When the final buzzer went it was the Bruins who were on top 68-27.
Thanks to their undefeated record, Britannia gets a “bye” until the semifinals of the Vancouver Tier 1 playoffs. Their game will be Thursday February 1st at 5:45pm hosted at Lord Byng. Winston Churchill has a tough road ahead as they need to win two tie breaker games if they want to be apart of the six team playoff. Their first tie-breaker is Monday January 29th tipping off at 4:15pm against Sir Charles Tupper hosted at Churchill.
Good luck to all teams participating in City and District playoffs!
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