By Larry Moko
Fortunately for the St. Thomas More Knights, they came out of the dressing room at half time looking like an entirely different team.
During the first half of Thursday's Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference girls' basketball final in Oakville against the Garth Webb Chargers, the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic champion Knights were sluggish.
More trailed, 31-20.
However, for the final 16 minutes the Knights overcame the deficit and a noisy home crowd en route to a convincing 53-41 victory.
That outcome qualifies More for the provincial high school AAA championship tournament Novemer 21-23 in Brampton.
"I wasn't quite sure what was happening there at the beginning," More coach Ralph Bozzo said. "Maybe it was butterflies.”
"We settled down, though, and owned the second half."
The visitors went on a 22-1 run against the Halton public league representatives, taking the lead and never looking back. Rebounding, shot-blocking, defensive pressure, ball movement and shooting accuracy all showed improvement.
Said coach Bozzo: "I think the girls came to the realization that if they didn't step up and play the type of game that we are accustomed to playing on both ends of the floor, then this would have been the end of the season.
"They weren't ready to have an end-of- the-season game. So they picked it up, turned it up and finished at the rim. Our defence was top shelf, which it usually has been."
Isabella Moro led the More in scoring with 17 points. Savannah Gallea added 16 while Gabriella Mazzuca and Milania Bozzo chipped in with eight and five points, respectively.
For the Chargers, guards Emi Harumoto and Rachel Chen combined for 31 points.
"Our girls came out strong," Chargers coach Adam Carter said. "I've been saying the whole season that if we turn the games into track meets and make them play our game, we have a good chance of winning. But St. Thomas More did a really good job of closing. Give them credit. They were composed in the second half. They weren't tired and they hit big shots.
"I think the better team won. But I'm really proud of how hard we played. We have a lot of multi-sport athletes on our team."
Coach Bozzo said one of the key players on defence was Grade 9 forward Mazzuca.
"We have great defenders all around," he said, "but Gabriella is really aggressive on defence. We like to put her on their top player."
Said Mazzuca: "We weren't executing on defence or offence. But in the second half we really picked up the energy and didn't let any of the surroundings get to us. We locked in on defence."
The upcoming OFSAA tournament will be the first for More since 2019 when it came home with a gold medal.
"I'm so excited," Mazzuca said. "We really wanted to do it for the seniors on the team. OFSAA will be a good competition, but if we play how we played in the second half of this game, we'll be able to go far."
More lost only once in 12 regular-season starts. The Knights then advanced past the Bishop Tonnos Titans and the three-time defending champion Cathedral Gaels in league playoffs. More's GHAC semifinal victory was over Burlington's Corpus Christi Longhorns.