They really brought it this year." remarked Lauren Livingston after Lajeunesse beat Academie Ste. Cecile 36-28 to claim the A championships at home. "The score didn't really represent how much work and effort was put in on that floor. They played awesome. They played hard."
Ste. Cecile was led by Meghan Carvalho who had a game-high 21 points and had the visitors within four points with two minutes left in the game.
"It's the second year we came close to winning so we're proud of this team." said the grade 12 student who pointed out the school didn't have a sr. girls basketball team for over five years before last season. "Being on the court together, none of us play basketball. This is none of our main sports. Half of us don't even have basketball shoes. It's just nice to have a team come together and made it so far. It shows the community our school has.
Livingston agrees that it's hard to field a team loaded with club players at a smaller school. "Especially with single-A everyone's just trying to get athletes out there and I think that kinda makes it more fun. We get to try new things. It's just athletes having fun playing basketball.
For grade 12 player Tatum Drake, the win allows her to continue having fun playing basketball as Les Royals qualify for SWOSSA. "I probably won't ever play after so hopefully we can make it really far. We're just excited to get to the next step. Hopefully win SWOSSA. We really want to get back to OFSAA just like last year."
