With five teams contesting the 2026 Bailly title, the organizers set up a tournament where each team played four round-robin games on Friday and Saturday, and then the top two teams would meet in the final on Sunday. The Senior Girls Spartans got off to a nice start in their first game of this event. They began the game with a 10-4 lead after one quarter of play with 6 points from Erika and 2 each from Julia and Clara, all on two-point baskets. 1Q Score: SC 10 – QHS 4  

 

In the second quarter, QHS went on a little run, outscoring the Spartans 18-9 in that quarter, with their #21 dropping 10 points and #10 adding 5, plus a few contributions from other players rounded out their scoring. For us, it was Clara with 4, Julia with 2 and Miranda, Erika and Zoey with one free-throw each. From the point where SC led19-13, the the Blazers went on a 9-0 run to end the quarter. 2Q Score: SC 19 - QHS 22   

The third quarter was a back-and-forth affair with the Blazers scoring 12 points and the Spartans 10 -- 6 from Clara, 2 from Erika and two free throws from SarahL. 3Q Score: SC 29 – QHS 34  

 

Then the fun began...the fourth quarter was exciting for fans, referees, coaches and players! QHS already led by 5 to start the period and then scored the first two buckets of the quarter to stretch their lead to 9 at 29-38. Some may have thought that the story was over. Not us. We countered at that point with a 9-0 run of our own. Several time-outs called by their coaches (I do mean several!) to try to stop our solid effort and results. Unfortunately for them, they did not help them. So the game was tied at 38-38.

 

Then, oh no, they scored a 3-pt shot with less than two minutes left to go ahead in the game. We then scored not one, not two, but three buckets during those final critical last few minutes.  We were then up 44-41! They scored soon after to make it 44-43 for us with less than 30 seconds to go. We could have iced the game with a little better keep-away but after trying an unnecessary lay-up (which missed) they came up with the ball and began to run down the court. Their attempt at a short shot to win the game with about 7 seconds left was blocked by Clara and the ball bounced to a Spartan rebounder who held it until the loud final buzzer buzzed.

 

Win! Win! Win! What a game! The senior boys ran across the court to maul the victorious senior girls who were literally jumping for joy with an important first win at the '26 Bailly tournament. We scored 15 points in the fourth quarter, including 9 from Clara with four buckets and a made and-one, 4 from Erika and 2 from Julia. There were lots of great contributions from many players. Overall final game scoring results were Clara with 21, Erika with 13, Julia with 6, SarahL with 2 and Zoey and Miranda with 1. Final score: SC 44 - QHS(2) 43   

 

After an exciting win a few hours earlier, the Spartans were keen to test themselves against their rivals from down Route 143, the BCS Bears. It was BCS who got off to the nice start this time, leading us 11-4. We only managed to score on free throws from Erika, Miranda and Julia with their up-tempo press in place. 1Q Score: SC 4 - BCS 11   

 

The scoresheet was a little weak, but I believe the second quarter saw scoring of 14 points for BCS and 17 for SC! Clara led the way with 13 and Julia pitched in 4/4 free throws. When you add these to her first quarter 2/2, Julia went 6/6 during the game -- or 100%, which is quite unusual in high school hoops. Both Clara and Julia went to the basket, and we benefitted from their excellent work. Julia hit the floor several times and was a game changer. She is quickly getting more minutes and is becoming a reliable player with a great focus, work ethic and coachability. 2Q Score: SC 21 - BCS 25     

 

The halftime score was reasonable, but we went a little cold and experienced a lot of trouble with inbounding and made several turnovers. We were only able to score 3 points in that period on a bucket from Miranda and a free-throw from Zoey. BCS countered with 20 points in the third quarter! 3Q Score: SC 24? - BCS 45?  

 

The final quarter was nothing to write home about for either team, with an official final scoresheet of 49-26 in the Bears' favour. We dealt with a few unique and funny injuries this game, with Miranda and Elizabeth's cheering and slapping their legs so hard that visible bruises were evident. Gawon also may have had bruises on her shoulder as she sat next to me on the bench and we both smiled and laughed as I tapped her shoulder every time her sister scored a free throw, and as mentioned earlier, Julia went 6/6!  Final score: SC 26? - BCS 49? (though the scoresheet is missing some individual scores and probably the running score as well). Anyway, BCS did deserve a twenty-point win over us, as they played very well.

 

 

Despite the early morning start, we got off to a 10-0 score after one quarter on two buckets by Clara and one from Julia plus single free  throws from Julia, Miranda, Zoey and SarahL. 1Q Score: SC 10 - DDO 0   

The second quarter belonged to them with a 9-4 score in their favour. Clara had our only two baskets.  2Q Score: SC 14 - DDO 9    

We stretched our lead from 5 points at the half to 13 points by the end of the third period on 8 points from Clara, and 2 from Miranda, Erika, Olivia and Deseray. 3Q Score: SC 30 - DDO 17  

 

In the final quarter, they managed only 7 points while the Spartans scored 18. Erika led us with 5, Clara had 4, Julia 3 and Miranda, SaraM and Deseray with 2 each. Halfway through the final quarter, there was a scary moment when Erika was fouled hard on an attempted lay-up that resulted in her hitting her head on the wall under the basket. After a few nervous moments, we were happy to see her able to walk over to the bench under her own steam.  Final score: SC 48 - DDO 24   

 

We knew that this would be a very challenging game against a skilled, experienced and well-coached team. Their pressing, plus our poor inbounding and passing, made it a tough start and a difficult day. Despite her keenness to warm up and interest in playing in the game, we decided to have Erika sit out of this game out of precaution based on her head injury during the morning game. We did lead in this game at one point -- when it was 4-3. But from then on, QHS dominated us (and every other team they faced). We were led by Julia as she tried to get to the basket and was rewarded with several trips to the foul line. She had one 2-point bucket and also went 5/6 at the free throw (sorry, Gawon!) in the first quarter, so she chipped in 7 points, while Miranda and Clara contributed 2 each. The Blazers’ 28 points in this period were scored by just two girls - one with 17 and the other with 11. 1Q Score: SC 11 - QHS(1) 28   

QHS carried on with 24 points in the second quarter, spread across 7 players, but the girl with 17 early was rested the rest of the way. The Spartans did not score -- zippo, zilch, nada -- in the second quarter. That has to be some sort of record. 2Q Score: SC 11 - QHS(1) 52    

In the third quarter, we scored 5 points, and they scored just a few more than us in that period. 3Q Score: SC 16 - QHS(1) 58  

 

In the final quarter we had one basket thanks to Miranda. They had a bunch more. Final score: SC 18 - QHS(1) 68   

 

With a final record of 2 wins and 2 losses, the Spartans did not move on to the Bailly final on Sunday. The girls would still get to enjoy hotel time together, a tournament social activity on Saturday evening, a couple of players would take part in the annual shooting contest, and of course they would get to cheer on the boys in the Anderson final. 

 

SarahL and Julia were entered into the NBA 2-ball competition. It is a fun activity where players from different teams are paired together to try to win points (and prizes) as a pair. Congratulations to Julia and her partner who ended up in 4th place. All of the A-B teams watched the QHS(1) team win the Bailly trophy quite easily. Our girls then cheered on the Spartan boys, but they too came up against a strong QHS(1) team. So the host school deservedly won both trophies. Congratulations to both QHS(1) teams and Coach Weston, and thanks to Mr. Dwyer and the organizers for a great 53rd Anderson-Bailly Tournament. All that was left for us to do was the three-hour bus ride home, a stop at a restaurant (in case you are unaware, Mr. Van Dyke likes ribs) for some dinner, and an unexpected winter push-the-bus event. Thanks to the players on both SC teams for being great representatives of the Spartan spirit, as usual, all weekend.

 

AS