For the third time in five years, Holy Cross has won the Kingston Area Secondary School Athletic Association senior girls basketball championship.
On Monday night at the Queen’s Athletic Centre, the Crusaders beat the Frontenac Falcons 63-47 to capture the Barry O’Connor Memorial Trophy.
“I think we accomplished the game plan to perfection,” said Maggie Besselink, who led the Crusaders with 33 points.
Besselink, who has committed to play for Arizona State University in 2020, said it was a total team effort.
“We talked about the three E’s before the game,” continued Besselink.
“Our coach, Kelly Dixon, talked about energy, execution and effort. I think we accomplished all three. We worked as a team and passed the ball well and our communication was excellent.
“The game was close until the third quarter,” Besselink said. “We had a motivational meeting at half-time and it really helped. We came out strong in the second half and never looked back.”
Frontenac enjoyed a 24-23 lead after 20 minutes of play. The coach’s pep talk at half-time seemed to do the trick.
“It really did,” said Crusaders guard Cassie Dixon.
The Grade 11 student scored 10 points in the second half including some big three-pointers.
“It was a lot closer than the score would indicate,” added Dixon, who is the coach’s daughter.
“Frontenac never gave up. Maggie started scoring in the second half and they weren’t able to stop her. We have a national player in Maggie but it was a total team effort.
“She’s our foundation but it takes everybody to pull together as a team.”
As mentioned, Holy Cross started out slowly but turned it around in the second half, outscoring the Falcons 44-19.
“Our coaches pumped us up at half-time,” said Crusaders graduating guard Ali Quinton.
“It was a great game. Both teams played awesome; it was hard fought until the very end. Everybody had a role to play on our team and they all played it well.”
Holy Cross now represents KASSAA at the Ontario AAA championships (Nov. 20-23) in Mississauga.
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