Isfeld Ice Jr. Girls Basketball win Area 3’s in Overtime
The Mark Isfeld Ice junior girls basketball team advanced to the North Island championships by winning the Area 3 zones in dramatic fashion in overtime on Saturday against rival and host Port Alberni.
The Ice girls got off to a sluggish start. Trailing 11-3 early, Michaela Ashlee then hit a trey and pumped some confidence into the girls who closed the gap to trail 16-12 at the end of the half.
Employing a full-court zone press , the Ice turned the tide of momentum in the third quarter and the teams were tied going into the fourth.
A frentic pace ensued in the final quarter with Alberni catching the Ice and taking the lead by two with five seconds remaining. After a time out, a stacked sideline play was called which led to Ashlee driving to the hoop to score or looking for teammates in the corner. The ball was kicked out and Shemin Fayad tipped in the missed shot on the put back at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.
Ovetime was exciting with Alberni hitting a trey first time down the court and the Ice answering with a basket of their own to be down by one. Then an Avery Snider trey put Isfeld up by two only for Alberni to tie again on a shot over three Ice defenders.
As the clock wound down, good ball movement by the Ice led to a Snider drive to the hoop and foul. Calmly sinking both foul shots, the Ice hung on to win the Area 3 championship. Good teamwork and team spirit by Cicon, Irvine, Ashlee, Kirks, Bourget, Dunn, Snider, Fayad and Boilard and spread out scoring helped seal the win according to coaches Irvine and MacKinnon.
The North Island championships start Thursday at Isfeld at 3:30 p.m. with local teams Isfeld playing at 6:30 p.m. vs. Nanaimo District Secondary and Vanier at 8 p.m. vs. Ballenas (Parksville).
– Isfeld Ice basketball
