North Star defeats Herman in senior girls basketball opening game

Lexi Gignac (31, white jersey) goes up for a layup last Tuesday against Herman.

It was a good start for the North Star Wolves senior girls basketball team.

The young Wolves team opened the WECSSAA season on their home court against the Herman Green Griffins and won by a 35-22 final score. Rae Demitroff had nine points for North Star while Lexi Gignac scored eight in last Tuesday evening’s win.

The Wolves got off to a 10-0 advantage and led 12-5 after the first eight-minute quarter. Herman didn’t give up and gradually ate into the Wolves’ advantage, with North Star leading 18-12 at the half.

Herman cut the Wolves’ lead to one point in the third quarter before North Star battled back and took a 24-22 lead after three quarters. North Star seized control of the game in the fourth quarter and outscored Herman 11-0 to pull away for the victory.

“I thought it was a really good game,” said Gignac. “We had good defense and our offense battled hard.”

Gignac added “it came down to the last two quarters” and she credited the coaching staff for guiding the team through it.

“The coaches really helped us a lot,” said Gignac. “Thank you to the coaches and everyone who helped the team out.”

Wolves head coach Dom Silvaggio, who coaches the team with Frank Palumbo, Nora Newhook and Nicole Rusenstrom, said this year’s senior team is young and it is the only girls team the school has this year. Three senior players eligible to return did not, with two choosing to do other things while their best player from last year, June Buchner, injured her knee playing soccer over the summer.

“We’re basically a junior team,” said Silvaggio. “We have three Grade 11 players and the rest are Grade 9s and 10s.”

Because senior basketball offers what he feels is a more structured system, Silvaggio elected to have them play at the senior level and improve as the year goes along. He credited players like Ashley Mongeau and Tyler Lamarche for showing leadership on the floor and helping their teammates.

“We’re trying to build for the future,” said Silvaggio, though added he’s not counting this year out.

Newhook agreed it is a young team with no Grade 12 players on it and 13 of the 16 players junior-aged. She said they are proud of the effort in the team’s first game.

The Wolves played in Leamington Tuesday against the Lions and return home Thursday (Oct. 2) for a 5:30 p.m. game versus Assumption.

North Star defeats Herman in senior girls basketball opening game

By Ron Giofu