By Larry Moko
The Cathedral Gaels are a much different senior girls' basketball team than the one that dominated at the provincial high school level.
But one thing has remained constant -- they still win.
The Gaels, who strung together 90 consecutive victories en route to capturing three consecutive OFSAA championships from 2021-23, are currently vying for a fourth-straight Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic league title.
Cathedral made its 2024 playoff debut Monday on home court with a 40-23 quarter-final victory over the St. Jean de Brébeuf Braves.
Elsewhere, the St. John Henry Newman Cardinals defeated the St. Mary Crusaders, 57-23, and the Bishop Tonnos Titans downed the Bishop Ryan Celtics, 56-40. The first-place St. Thomas More Knights received an opening-round bye.
Cathedral finished third in the regular-season standings with a record of 8-4. At this stage, however, they're on an eight- game winning streak, the hottest team in the league.
"We knew we were going to have a slow start because we had three juniors starting for us," said coach Kevin Daly, who has overseen all of the Gaels success.
"We knew it would take time to get going and figure out how we were going to play."
Daly's twin daughters -- Keira and Nicole -- were key players on each of those banner-winning squads. But they graduated and are currently playing for the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.
"We play a completely different style than last year," Daly said. "We would press and run. Now we're playing a zone."
The Gaels have defeated every Hamilton Catholic opponent at least once this season and the second-place Newman Cardinals will be their semifinal opponent. Fourth-place Tonnos takes on More in the other semi.
"We've got a chance at it (winning the championship)," Daly said. "Not a lot of people thought we would.
"Our players have worked hard at practice to improve. We've been hanging around with everybody pretty much the whole second half of the year. We're a good team. That's the bottom line."
The Gaels led the Braves 19-9 at the half, but towards the end of the third quarter Brébeuf’s Megan Fox connected for a pair of three-point shots and Sophia Curcio drained a mid-range jumper to narrow the gap to seven points (29-22).
The Gaels then pulled away in the final eight minutes.
The top scorers for Cathedral were Naomi Stanley with 10 points and Mekeelah Dillon, with eight. Maria Atanasoaei added seven and Beatrice Clausen contributed five.
Fox finished with nine points, for sixth-place Brébeuf (1-11).
"Beatrice is an exceptional athlete," the Cathedral coach said. "I don't take her off the court. She doesn't seem to ever need a rest.
"We couldn't do anything without her. I think we have the best point guard in the league in Beatrice and the best defensive centre in the league in Naomi Stanley. Without either one of them we're just not the same team."
Clausen was a member of the Gaels last season and got called up from junior just for the OFSAA tournament the year before.
"On this team I'm more of a point guard and a facilitator," Clausen said. "I also have to score for myself. Last year we had an amazing team with the twins. We're still a really good team, just different."
Stanley's shot blocking and rebounding prowess help make Cathedral formidable. Said Daly:
"We're a tough team to score on in our zone because Naomi is like nothing I've ever seen. She completely dominates the paint to the point where no one can get a clean shot."
Stanley is just in Grade 10.
"Naomi is a really good player," Clausen said ."I think she has a really bright future in basketball."
Newman and Cathedral split their regular-season contests -- 29-26 for Newman and 45-23 for the Gaels.
More's victories over Tonnos were 55-34 and then 54-44.
The league final is Wednesday, Nov. 6.
Photos by R.F. (Bob) Butrym, RFB Sport Photography
More photos on the HWCDSB Facebook page here
