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Lancers senior girls claim silver at OFSAA championships

The Lasalle Lancers senior girls basketball team went on quite the run at the 2014 OFSAA AA Championships in Kingsville. No, their streak of success did not ultimately end with their crowning as provincial champs, but it was awfully darn close.
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The Laurentian Voyageurs are 2-5 at the Christmas break, but coach Jason Hurley remains optimistic about the direction the team is heading. File photo.
The Lasalle Lancers senior girls basketball team went on quite the run at the 2014 OFSAA AA Championships in Kingsville.

No, their streak of success did not ultimately end with their crowning as provincial champs, but it was awfully darn close.

Despite entering the tournament as the No. 8 seed and giving up a size differential on the inside to virtually every opponent they faced, the patient local team worked their way through to the finals, settling for silver medals following a 40-35 loss at the hands of the St. Matthew Tigers from Orleans.

Along the way, the Lancers would topple the No. 1 seeded John McGregor Panthers (Chatham) 40-39 and the fourth seeded Centennial Cougars (Welland) 43-38, reeling off four straight wins before finally tasting defeat.

"The kids really bought into what we wanted to do," noted head coach Mitch Lalonde. "The top teams wanted to shoot and score quickly, maybe 15 to 20 seconds. We were going to run 40, 45 seconds, and we had an offence that could do that.

"We had to win five of the eight one-minute periods in every quarter. That was exactly what happened. We set the tempo."

Offensively, balance and ball distribution would be key.

When Kennedi Cashmore paced the Lancer attack with 18 points in their 43-38 victory over Centennial in the Saturday morning semifinals, it marked the fourth different Lasalle player to lead her team in scoring in four games to that point (Cashmore joined Laura Graham, Kendra Muffo and Jade Gauthier).

"It's all movement," said Lalonde. "Everyone touches the ball, so everyone's happy. When we're running on transition, anything goes. But when we're in a set, you're looking at eight, nine, 10, 11, 12 passes — easy. And we've done that all year.

Lalonde realized early that minimizing the overall possessions per team would be key as the level of competition increased.

"We're not going to beat great teams playing their game," he said.

"We've got to set the tempo, we slow the game down. We're not in a hurry to shoot the ball."

After beating Hammarskjold (37-8) and Patrick Fogarty (48-33) out of the gate, the Lancers would face McGregor, beating the powerhouse thanks to a pair of key free throws with five seconds to play by Muffo.

The Lancers were joined on the podium by the Thériault Flames from Timmins, as the veteran crew captured bronze at the same event.

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