Goulbourn Stingers A Midget Girls win Silver

     The Goulbourn Stingers “A” Midget Girls Basketball Team with coached Barry Cutler and assistant coach Frank Chevrier travelled to Belleville on February 17th to 19th for the Spirits Hoop Classic in Bellville. The tournament hosted 16 Major Midget Girl’s basketball teams from across Ontario. Early tournament play determined which of the 16 team would play in the “AA” and “A” Divisions.
 

     The Goulbourn Stingers lost the first game against the Durham Swish by a score of 46 to 29. The second game was closely contested and resulted in a loss to the Whitby Wildcats by a score of 27 to 29. As a result, Goulbourn team moved to Division “A” play for the remainder of the tournament. The next match was against the Thunder Bay Wolves. Goulbourn needed to win this game to advance further in the tournament. With strong defensive play and a patient offence Goulbourn outscored the Thunder Bay team to advance to semi final play the following day.

     Early on Sunday morning the Stingers were matched against the Capital Xelles. The Stingers opened the game with some great defence, leading the Xelles by a score of 10 to 2 at the end of the first quarter. The Stingers continued to lead through the second half with Xelles slowly narrowing the margin between the two teams. With the score tied in the final minute of the game, Goulbourn scored a basket on their final possession to lead the Xelles by a score of 38 to 36, with only 4 seconds remaining. The Xelles failed to score in the remaining time and Goulbourn advanced to the gold Medal Game against the Hamilton Celtics.

     The gold medal match-up proved to be another closely contested match. However, foul trouble early in the third quarter proved difficult for Goulbourn team to overcome. The Hamilton Celtics were able to capitalize on foul shots winning the game by a score of 45 to 35. As a result, Hamilton won the gold medal in the tournament and Goulbourn accepted the silver for their efforts over the weekend. Stephanie Thompson was named Goulbourn Stingers’ MVP for the championship game.

 
Goulbourn Stingers Win Tournament

     It was then on to the semi-final game where the Goulbourn stingers defeated Hull by a score of 35 to 29 to advance to the championship game.

    In the final game the team faced Bracebridge once again. The final was an exciting game that saw the lead change several times in the first half. Thanks to solid defense in the 4th quarter, the Goulbourn team went ahead, winning the match by a score of 37 to 26. 

     Goulbourn Stingers would like to thank Coach Barry Cutler and Assistant coach Frank Chevrier for their hard work and leadership throughout the tournament.