The Vincent J. Maloney female Marauders aced their final exam for a perfect mark in junior high basketball.
The 24th win in 24 games for the Maloney girls was Friday’s 47-35 test against the Lorne Akins Gators for the SAPEC city championship at the SkyDome.
“I really can’t believe we did it,” said Jamie Cole, Maloney’s top scorer in the final with 13 points. “It’s a real big accomplishment. Our coach, Mr. [Rob] Rawcliffe, said an undefeated season only comes around once in a blue moon.”
Maloney stacked 10 wins together in league play and were victorious in four tournaments.
“In school we’re all very close and on the basketball court that shows. You can see how much we have in common. We can do anything together. We’re unstoppable,” said Cole, 14.
A veteran line-up led by six returning Marauders wasn’t willing to settle for second best two years in a row after losing the 2011 final to the Gators by five points.
“We knew we were capable of beating them and we just believed in ourselves,” said Grade 9 post Riki Steward. “This year we were pushing more and we worked really, really hard together on defence to make it happen.”
The second-place Gators hung tough with Maloney until the third quarter, when Cole drained eight of team’s 10 points to widen the gap to 34-25 with 10 minutes to play.
“At halftime we kind of pulled ourselves together. We said, ‘OK guys, we have to do this.’ We went out and got it done and had a great game,” Cole said.
Maloney outscored the Gators 12-9 after the first quarter to lead by five at halftime. Cole, a Grade 9 post, and Carly Zimmer paced the attack in the opening period with five points apiece and Steward made four field goals in the second quarter.
“We did let them catch up slightly but then we started pulling away and held on until the end,” Cole said.
Marinya Marcichiw and Sydney Hurlburt combined for 23 points as the only Gators to score more than five points in the loss. Marcichiw finished with a game-high 14 points.
“We were ready for the offence that they gave us and we played very strong on defence as a team,” Cole said. “We also had a slight height advantage over them and our boxing out was key for us rebounding so well.”
Steward, 14, was a major contributor inside with 12 points. Zimmer and Jessa Ivicak added eight apiece as six Marauders registered points in the win.
“We were finishing our plays really well and making our foul shots,” Steward said.
Maloney also beat the Gators 57-49 in week two of league play en route to a historic perfect season.
“We knew we had the potential to accomplish that this year and it just felt so amazing to do it,” Steward said.
