HIGH ACHIEVERS: Quickness, tough defence spark young, ‘primarily all-guards’ Osgoode Township girls’ basketball Panthers

By Martin Cleary

The Osgoode Township High School girls’ basketball program is absolutely unique and has earned a basketful of accomplishments since early September.

And the Panthers haven’t even reached the high point of their season – representing the National Capital Secondary School Athletic Association as city champions at their second consecutive OFSAA girls’ class A provincial high school championship in Belleville.

Let’s breakdown the Panthers to learn why their against-the-grain approach works so smoothly for them.

When the Panthers run onto the basketball court, you may do a double take. There are only 10 players on their roster, when most high school teams will carry several more.

The team’s average height is about five-foot, six inches, while other schools will have a few players approaching or exceeding the six-foot range. The tallest Panthers player stands at five feet, nine inches on this ‘primarily all-guards’ squad.

What they lack in height, they make up in speed up and down the court, creating turnovers and converting them into baskets.

But the most intriguing aspect of the Osgoode Township team is the structure of its varsity program, which is open to the best players from Grades 9-12. Usually, the majority of players on a varsity team will be seniors (Grades 11-12) with a handful of juniors to build for future teams.

The Panthers, however, have gone the opposite direction as their roster has eight junior-age student-athletes (two from Grade 9 and six from Grade 10) and only two senior-age players (one from Grade 11 and one from Grade 12).

And for the past two years, the varsity program designed by head coach Aaron Harvey and assistant coach Jenny Rodgers has worked extremely well. It also helps that all 10 student-athletes are or have played for competitive teams in the community, including five at a high level.

After losing the overall NCSSAA girls’ senior championship game to Cairine Wilson as a single-A school (population under 500 students) in 2022, but qualifying for the OFSAA championship with seven junior-age players, the Panthers went one better this season.

Osgoode Township won the East 1 Division pennant at 6-0 this season, scored two victories in the overlap round and zipped through three playoff matches, winning by an average of 21.7 points a game. The NCSSAA’s Diamond Division playoffs saw the Panthers defeat John McCrae 61-45 in the quarterfinals, St. Mother Teresa 66-42 in the semifinals and Earl of March 63-38 in the championship game.

In their 11 regular-season, overlap and playoff games, the Panthers averaged 59.2 points for and only allowed 38.7 points against. During their season, the Panthers also defeated the NCSSAA’s two other OFSAA representatives – St. Mother Teresa, AAA, (playoffs); and Beatrice-Desloges, A, 59-37 (regular season) and 40-39 (overlap game).

The Panthers, 16-2, also won their own invitational tournament this fall, and earned silver medals at the Queen’s University Tri-Color tournament and the St. Mary’s Fall Classic in Brockville.

“Our girls have played a lot together and have known each other for a long time,” Harvey said in a phone interview. “This year’s team is mostly juniors (eight out of 10 players). That makes it even more remarkable.”

When the Panther players aren’t storming the court for their school, they play on a variety of high-quality community teams, including St. Lawrence Lighting in the JUEL prep league, Capital Courts, Gloucester-Cumberland and South Ottawa.

“We have a unique collection of talent that came up at the same time,” he added.

Despite a height disadvantage, Osgoode Township more than makes up for it with its competitiveness and constant movement.

“Our game is all around. We play quick. We use a pressure defence. We’re all about pressure defence to wear the other teams down and then finish on offence,” Harvey explained.

“We look to play fast and score off our defence. We’re small, primarily all guards. We don’t play too much front court. We rely on our defence with no gimmicks and man-to-man defence.”

When the fit and fluid Panthers met John McCrae and St. Mother Teresa in the playoffs, “they were huge compared to us,” Harvey said.

“But we relied on our quickness and defence. We kept the pressure on all the time. We tried to keep the tempo up and tried to be mindful of that.”

Grade 10 student-athletes Charley Toivonen and Brielle Croisetière and Harvey’s daughter Kaitlyn, who is in Grade 12 and only playing high school basketball in 2023-24, are three key players for the Panthers.

Toivonen is highly competitive with a strong will to win. If the team needs a basket or rebound, she’ll step forward. She also is tough on defence.

Croisetière does everything well on the court, whether it’s rebounding, defence, finishing around the basket or running up and down the floor.

Harvey, who helped Gloucester-Cumberland win the OBLX provincial girls’ U17 title earlier this year, is a physical player assigned to covering the opposition’s top player. She also is a strong three-point shooter.

At the start of this season, Harvey knew the Panthers were a strong team and could improve on their 2022 NCSSAA performance (city finalist) and OFSAA showing (quarterfinals).

“I thought our team had the potential to win the city finals and (to win) a medal at OFSAA,” Harvey said about his 2023 team. “The girls are really talented. I told the girls that these should be our goals. They thought that was attainable and realistic.”

The Panthers are halfway there, having won the NCSSAA championship as a small population school against all larger AA and AAA Ottawa schools. The three-day OFSAA championship, which starts Thursday in Belleville, awaits.

Here is a breakdown of the other Ottawa and area high schools attending the OFSAA championships for girls’ basketball and boys’ volleyball:

GIRLS’ AA BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP, Guelph

· Béatrice-Desloges, second in the East 1 Division at 5-1, was 1-1 in overlap games, lost its Diamond Division quarterfinal 45-32 to South Carleton, but defeated Samuel-Genest 36-29 in the OFSAA AA play-in game.

· Arnprior District, the Eastern Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association representative, won bronze at the 2022 OFSAA championship, undefeated at 22-0 before winning the EOSSAA championship, four tournament gold medals, has 10 returning players from 2022, scored 1,389 points for and 528 points against.

GIRLS’ AAA BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP, Hamilton

· St. Mother Teresa, second place in West 1 Division at 5-1, 1-1 record in overlap games, defeated St. Matthew 61-51 in Diamond Division quarterfinals, lost semifinals 68-42 to Osgoode Township, won OFSAA play-in game defeating Earl of March 52-40.

BOYS’ A VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP, Kitchener

· Notre Dame, third place in West 3 Division at 5-1, won both overlap games, defeated Gloucester 3-1 in the Silver Division quarterfinals, but lost to Longfields-Davidson Heights 3-2 in the semifinals, defeated Osgoode Township 3-1 in OFSAA A play-in game;

BOYS’ AA VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP, Stratford

· Garneau, fourth place in East 1 Division at 3-3, won both overlap games, defeated Glebe 3-2 in Platinum Division quarterfinals, lost to De La Salle 3-0 in semifinals, defeated Mer-Bleue 3-1 in OFSAA AA play-in game.

BOYS’ AAA VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP, Belle River

· Franco-Cité, first place in East 1 Division at 6-0, won both overlap games, defeated West Carleton 3-0 in Platinum Division quarterfinals, Béatrice-Desloges 3-0 in semifinals, De La Salle 3-0 in championship game.

UNDEFEATED CANADA REACHES PARAPAN WHEELCHAIR RUGBY SEMIFINALS

Canada outlasted the United States 46-41 in its toughest match to date and won the mixed wheelchair rugby round robin at 5-0 during the Parapan-American Games in Santiago, Chile.

Co-captain Patrice Dagenais of Embrun, ON., played seven minutes and three seconds in the match, while Zak Madell of Okotoks, AB., was the powerhouse on offence for a team-leading 30 trys.

Canada is slated to play its semifinal game Wednesday.

In women’s goalball, Canada overpowered Chile 10-1 and finished second in its round-robin pool at 2-1.

The trio of athletes from Ottawa played prominent roles in the win. Emma Reinke made 51 of Canada’s 102 throws against Chile and scored eight goals, while Whitney Bogart took one throw and turned it into a goal and Amy Burk fired 29 throws at the Chile defence.

In Wednesday’s scheduled quarterfinals, Canada will face Mexico, 1-2.