By Isabella Disley
There could not have been a better ending for Capital Courts Academy’s seniors.
On Sunday at the Pan Am Sports Centre in Toronto, they completed the first perfect season in CCA history with a 72-57 Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association championship game victory over their top rival, Crestwood.
“It feels amazing,” underlines OSBA women’s MVP Megan Hollingsworth. “It’s been a long time coming. Being undefeated and coming off the last season, it had to happen.”
In last year’s OSBA final, Crestwood plowed past CCA 94-57, and the Toronto private school ended CCA’s season the previous year as well in the semi-finals. That made the triumph all the more special for the eight players set to graduate this spring.
“We worked really hard this season – long practices in the morning and night,” Hollingsworth highlights. “I’ll definitely remember all the work we put in and the fact that it got us to our end goal.”
Crestwood downed CCA in a three-point game last month when they met in Women’s National Preparatory Association play, and caused fits on occasion in the OSBA final as well.
Crestwood scored 11 points in a row to go ahead 22-11 before CCA responded with 10 straight of their own. Crestwood leapt ahead by nine in the second quarter, but CCA came out on fire after halftime and outscored Crestwood 22-9 in the third quarter.
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CCA kept its advantage deep into the fourth, and Patricia Augustin cemented the win with a bucket and a foul to put CCA up by 12 with under two minutes left. Augustin finished with a masterful 25-point, nine-rebound performance to earn player-of-the-game honours.
Augustin was also named a first-team all-star alongside teammates Jahda Denis (the OSBA defensive player of the year) and Hollingsworth, while Fabienne Blizzard was chosen as coach of the year.
“(Blizzard) knows what I’m capable of doing, and she always tells me and reminds me to do what I’m good at,” Hollingsworth indicates. “It’s good to have her by my side to say those things to me.”
When the final buzzer sounded, CCA’s players met quickly on the court to celebrate, and then immediately rushed back to the bench to find their coaches.
“It’s seeing them celebrate, but then seeing them running to us as coaches and wanting to celebrate with us – to me, that was the win at the end of it,” Blizzard smiles. “We created an environment where they cared, and wanting this for each other was more powerful than anything else.”
Following the first unbeaten regular season in program history, CCA beat Orangeville Prep 76-24 in a playoff home game on Mar. 2 before beating St. Jude’s 90-60 in the semi-final Saturday in Toronto and then topping Crestwood to finish 15-0.
“We want to be perfect, but it’s also understanding that in this will to be perfect, you have to be okay that you will fail,” Blizzard explains. “That’s going to be what’s going to create that success that you want. If you feel that you didn’t win this practice, you still have a chance to win before the end of the day.”
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Hard work was the big key to CCA’s success, with a small assist going to superstition. Before losing last year’s OSBA championship, the team had a pregame meal at Boston Pizza. This year the players completely refused the idea of returning there.
“Under no circumstances are we going to that restaurant. It’s a big, fat ‘no,’” recounts Blizzard, whose team chose Scaddabush in Scarborough to dine this time around.
Blizzard says that watching her team grow and bond over the years has been “amazing because it was the true definition of sisterhood.”
“I’ve played with a lot of great players, and the people around me have helped develop me into the player I am today,” reflects Hollingsworth, who’s headed to the University of Pittsburgh next season. “Without them, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.”
Hollingsworth says the team’s goal is now to collect one more championship from North Pole Hoops’ WNPA league. She will later attend tryouts for Canada’s U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup team.
“I’m very grateful for this opportunity,” Hollingsworth notes. “I’ve never been able to have the opportunity before, so I’m really excited to show them what I’ve got and I’m excited to get to work.”
Several of the CCA’s soon-to-be grads are waiting until the end of April to announce which university/college programs they’ll be joining.
“I’m excited for them to commit,” Hollingsworth adds. “I’m very proud of all my teammates and how far they’ve come.”