Provincials: Jam no slouch in finals vs. tough York squad

The Sudbury U17 Jam girls basketball team that competed at the Ontario Basketball Provincial Championships in Sudbury on the weekend featured some nice talent.

Unfortunately, come the final, the York North Basketball Association (YNBA) ladies featured similar talent, just a little bit older and a touch more experienced.

That was evident right from the start of the gold-medal affair as YNBA sprinted to a 21-12 first-quarter lead, capturing their second straight title banner with a 66-46 victory over the Jam. Charlotte Clayton paced the winners with a 30-point performance, with Clare Sharkey (13), Emily Hardman (6) and Allie Pulford-Thorpe (5) also contributing offensively.

Ariane Saumure and Megan Desormeaux countered with 17 and 15 points respectively for Sudbury, with Mélanie Cloutier adding seven. The winners featured a lineup of almost completely Grade 10 students playing one year up, benefitting from a core that also captured gold at the U15 level last year.

As well, no less than six players on their team attend Newmarket High School, allowing for a great deal of familiarity on the court.

In YNBA, the Jam were facing an opponent that could match their outside shooting ability, while applying a stifling defensive pressure, the likes of which Sudbury had not seen in sweeping to the finals with wins over Stoney Creek, Gladiators Athletics (Whitby) and London CYO.

"It’s all in the defense," said Clayton, who remains hopeful of attracting some NCAA scholarship attention before she graduates from high school. "Once you get the steals and the stops, that’s when you can play offense and get the points. Hard defense wins it."

If YNBA were somewhat uniform across the roster, the same could not be said for the Jam, dealing with the effects of a handful of key injuries. Yes, the team featured four Grade 11 players, including Desormeaux and Nicole Conlin from the 2014 gold medal team, but they also played Saumure extensively, with the youngster not yet having reached secondary school age.

"Our Grade 8s did not play like Grade 8s," said Desormeaux. "And our Grade 11s supported our Grade 8s. Our chemistry is very good."

Racking up three round-robin wins by an accumulated margin of 87 points, the Jam knew full well they would be in a lot tougher against the No. 1 seeded team entering the tournament.

"We went into the game knowing what they would run against us, and we tried our best to counteract it," said Desormeaux. "I thought we played well."