CAPS veterans make their way up the ladder at Premier Division(PHOTOS) By Paul Edwards, with photos by Eva Edwards
February 28, 2009 — The 18U CAPS headed down the 401 to Brampton over the weekend to compete in the OVA 18U Girls Open, Premier Division. After spending the last event at Championship Division, the girls were ready to reacquaint themselves with the best players in the OVA, and to begin the process of climbing the ladder towards an exciting finish at Provincials.
The CAPS started their day against perennial foe, Ms. Pakmen from Mississauga. Starting anything but quick off the line against Pakmen is a fatal mistake, and the girls just weren’t able to get their game in gear for their early morning matchup against last season’s 17U Provincial bronze medalists. The girls fell in straight sets and were forced to quickly regroup for match #2.
Forest City Green is never an easy out, and the girls found themselves in quite the morning scrap. FC took the first set by 2, but the CAPS battled back to win the second by 4 points. One of the London parents had predicted this would be a tough win in a tie-breaker, and he was right. The teams traded blows all the way past 15, when a frustratingly low basketball hoop brought an untimely end to what had been a wonderful match. Green wins 2-1, and the CAPS are third in Pool D.
The crossover pitted our CAPS up against Niagara Rapids 17U and, although the CAPS won the match in two, I think we can say that the girls still hadn’t found their Tier 1 groove.
The quarter-finals would see the girls match up against what the girls might call their favourite opponent – Aurora Storm. Scores were relatively close, but the CAPS did not give Aurora too much of a storm to deal with on the court, and the CAPS were dropped from medal contention in straight sets.
In the battle to play for 5th, the girls came up (once again) against Forest City Green, but this would not prove to be a repeat of the morning’s tight battle. The girls seemed at an energy disadvantage and went down to a tough two-set defeat.
So our 18s would have to content themselves with battling Scarborough Titans 17U for 7th place. The girls tried to get their game in gear but weren’t quite able to show their best at the end of this long day in Brampton. The CAPS dropped their final match of the day in two, and finished the event in 8th place. Perhaps not the finish they had hoped for, but the event did move our CAPS a couple of steps forward on their path to Provincials.
Thanks to all our coaches, parents, family and friends who came west to support the girls in Toronto. The 18U CAPS’ next event is the Durham Invitational at the end of March.
