In a season that has been nothing short of spectacular, the Westside Secondary School Thunder senior girls basketball team claimed the District 4 championship with a 42-28 win over the Wellington Heights Secondary School Wolverines in the gym at Westside on Monday, November 16.

The game was the eleventh win for the squad this year and leaves them with a perfect undefeated record going into the regional level of competition.

The championship game pitted the top two teams in the District in a final battle to see who could get the edge and come out on top.

Westside came to the court as the number one team in the standings with a 10-0 record.
Wellington Heights had an 8-2 record and a second place finish when they arrived in Orangeville.

The championship game had a tight first half when Westside went ahead by five points in the second quarter then saw Wellington Heights close the gap after sinking a few baskets that made it a 16-15 game with three minutes left on the clock.

The game was tied at 19 with less than a minute to go when the Thunder broke the tie with a basket with two seconds left on the clock.

Returning for the second half with a two point lead, the Thunder turned it up a notch in the third quarter and went ahead by five points then blew the game wide open with a strong fourth quarter that saw them finish with 42 points and the win.

“We got pumped up and practiced hard,” Said Thunder forward Natasha Naismith of what the team did prior to Monday’s game. “We played well, but they started getting a little catty out there so we had to just play so much harder. We started playing bet- ter as a team. We started moving the ball more, passing and waiting for the open opportunities to shoot and took advantage of it when saw it.”

With the regional CWOSSA competition starting this weekend, Natasha said they will be practicing to get ready.

“We’re going to come in and practice hard and practice the way we want to play and hopefully do well at CWOSSA.”

Thunder coach Rachel Hendriksen said the squad was confident going into the championship game but knew they would be facing some tough competition.

“We’ve had a lot of girls who are really strong leaders all through the season,” Hendriksen said. “They’ve taken every challenge that I’ve given to them and they ran with it. I think we were fairly confident. We knew that Wellington Heights is great team so we definitely didn’t take it (the game) lightly. We were playing our game – slowing it down, playing the game we know how to play – using the height we have and using the skills we have and everyone’s individual strengths.”

The CWOSSA tournament for senior girls will get underway at Paris District High School in Paris on Friday, November 20.

The senior girls semi-final and final games will be played at Pauline Johnson Collegiate in Brantford on Saturday, November 21.