March Madness was alive and well throughout the March 23-25 weekend for the Chatham-Kent Wildcats Major Atom Girls Basketball team as they played in the Ontario Cup in Aurora, On.
The team was ranked 15th in the province and placed in Division 2 as the 7th seed for the weekend. Division 2 included teams ranked 9th -16th in the Province. The girls played three hard fought games in the Round Robin. They had a disappointing 1 point loss in their opening game against 3rd seed South York Silver Knights 37-36 on Friday night. This game was followed up by an absolutely outstanding 43-37 win over the 2nd seed Caledon Cougars and a 37-25 win versus 6th seed Ottawa Shooting Stars on Saturday. During all three games the team displayed great team defence and exhibited remarkable resiliency to overcome setbacks. The wins gave the Wildcats first place in their pool and a birth in the Gold Medal Game on Sunday.
The intense play and great team defense that carried the Wildcats in the round robin continued into Sunday’s final versus the undefeated Barrie Royals. An enthusiastic crowd of supporters for both the Royals and Wildcats energized the gym. The Wildcats imposed their will on the Royals and took a 15 point lead into halftime. In the second half the girls played smart basketball and cruised to a 44 to 32 victory. Leading scorers for the weekend were Megan Beselaere and Aliyah Isaac with all players providing a swarming “Cat Attack Defense”.

This Championship was the second time in three years that this group of girls have won a Gold Medal in Division 2 at Provincials. The win places the Wildcats 9th among all Major Atom teams in Ontario.

Watch and learn about Chatham -Kent Wildcats Programs

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Jaxen Baker, CJ Roberts, Caleb Roberts, Cristian Suffi and Amber Roberts in the Pistons Locker Room with Blake Griffin at the Pistons Meet and Greet Feb 2, 2108

This past weekend the Chatham Kent Wildcats Bantam (U13) Boys team went 4-1 enroute to winning gold at the Paul Mitchell Basketball Tournament in Brantford ON.
The Wildcats opened the tournament against Guelph CYO. Noah Dantas lead Chatham to a 56-34 victory with 19 points, Peyton Denomy contributed 11 and Ethan Vandermeersch had 10.

In second round action Chatham-Kent defeated the Cambridge Centaurs 57-34 with a well rounded attack where everyone scored. Owen Guerrieri lead the team with 14 points, Denomy added 12. Joey Lacina and Brett Howe both had 8 points.

Chatham only loss came in overtime to the Stratford Revolution. Guerrieri and Denomy paced the Wildcats again with 11 and 9 points while Bradley Shreve helped with 2 points.

Chatham advanced through to the finals beating the Brantford Hawks 56 -43. Guerrieri lead all scorers with 24 points.

In the finals the Wildcats battled the Guelph Gryphons. Guerrieri had 17 points, Denomy and Dantas had 16 a piece and Lacina contributed 14.

Chathams next action will be Friday February 9th at the Cambridge Centaurs tournament.

The Bantam Wildcats are: Coach David Bakker, Brett Howe, Peyton Denomy, Bradly Shreve, Joey Lacina, Ethan Vandermersch, Noah Dantas, Owen Guerrieri, Coach Ian Macdonald

Last weekend the girls won the Gold Medal at the London 86ers tournament. The team went undefeated by outscoring London 86ers 60-16, Orillia 51-17 and St. Thomas 39-12 in the championship.