The Orillia Secondary School junior girls’ basketball team capped off their stellar season with another dominant performance Tuesday afternoon en route to clinching their third straight Georgian Bay Secondary School Association (GBSSA) title.
The Nighthawks routed St. Joan of Arc Catholic High School (Barrie) 81-25, but even in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, Nighthawks head coach Mike Tutty was still coaching as if the game were tied.
Right until the final buzzer, Tutty was on the side line, making adjustments and stressing positioning and match-ups.
“Every kid is warranted to have every second of every game be valuable, and we preach that,” Tutty told OrilliaMatters.
While Tutty was stressing details with his players during the later stages of the game, Knights head coach Dave Chiuch was trying just to get his team to breathe while frustration was boiling over.
Rhys Bazuk, a first-year point guard, ate up a lot of minutes for the Nighthawks, and dished out numerous assists in Tuesday’s title game.
The Grade 9 student credits her team's success this season to her teammates but also to Tutty and his coaching style.
“We love coming to his practices. He creates a fun and sometimes intense environment for us,” Bazuk said.
Bazuk told OrilliaMatters that she applied a few lessons learned from Tutty this season, and it translated to success on the floor.
“Always work hard, always buy into your team, and always be a leader," she said in summarizing the team's philosophy.
This year, the Nighthawks compiled a nearly flawless 30-2-0 record that included tournament play.
Like most games this year, the championship game was never in doubt. The home side built an insurmountable 23-4 lead in the opening quarter, led 40-13 at the half and continued their domination in the second half.
Ally Smith led all OSS scorers with 31 points while teammate Amy Hagman chipped in 11 in a game that featured a balanced attack for the Nighthawks.
“Coming into the season, we set winning GBs as one of our team goals, and now that we’ve achieved it, it’s pretty special," said Tutty.
There is no provincial championship for junior teams.
The OSS senior girls also won a GBSSA title Tuesday. Watch for that story shortly!
