Both Owls basketball teams heading to NorWOSSAs!

By Ken Johnston
Editor

Rainy River High School’s first sports season has almost been completed and two of the four teams are leading the league.
Senior Girls Basketball Owls have completed their season undefeated. Coach Rebecca Tolen saw half her team return this year and half of it move up from junior play. “I knew it was going to be a strong team, but not this strong!”
Last year the Jr. Girls Owls won NorWOSSAs and the Srs. came in second. Tolen said that the Jr. coach worked the girls hard on defense so when they moved up she received girls that were already well disciplined.
The Srs. started their season on Sept. 11th and faced long time rivals St. Thomas Aquinas of Kenora. However, they beat them 32-18 which seemed to set the tone for a run away season. They then defeated Ignace 49-11, Sioux Lookout 48-10, Red Lake 32-14, Kenora again 58-29, Atikokan 58-29, SL again 64-29, RL again 60-24, Atikokan again 53-19 and Ignace again last Wednesday 45-12.
The next stop for the Srs. is NorWossa Playoffs next Tuesday and Wednesday. If they win there NWOSSAAs are on Nov. 15 and 16. The team is optimistic of their prospects. So much so, that they are holding a fundraiser Saturday in Stratton to raise monies to help offset costs to go to the All Ontarios if they win NWOSSAAs.
“If we do not win, the money will go into our (RRHS) OFSAA account for future teams that make it,” said Tolen.
Juniors on fire too!
The Jr. Girls Owls basketball have been slam-dunking their season as well! Other than a little hiccup early in the season when they barely lost to Kenora 27-30, they too have been undefeated. They beat SL 29-9, RL 23-15, Kenora 36-17, Atik. 28-11, SL again 49-20, RL again 38-6 and Atik. 26-7. They are leading the league and have one more game tomorrow (Oct. 31) at home against Pelican Falls. They too will be travelling to NorWOSSAs next week in search of gold medals.
Jr. Coach Rebecca Himanen said she had three returning grade 10 students and three returning grade 9 students as they played for RRHS even though they were still in grade 8. “All players have made strong defensive contributions, keeping a few of the most recent opponents under 10 pts. Offensively, returning players Kendra Moen and Haylee Arpin have led the way with their ball skills, drive and excellent shooting,” said Himanen.
Both teams have also another feather in their cap. The Srs. defeated the Fort Frances Muskies team in an exhibition game and the Jrs. won a FF invitational tournament recently. FFHS is a much larger school than RRHS with many more students to draw from than RRHS for sports.
The boys volleyball teams have not had as much success over the season, but their coaches have felt they have done well.
Senior Boys Owls coach Carling Nordin said, “The senior boys have a record of 3-9. Four of the losses were tough, coming down to the final 2 pt. cap in the fifth set against skilled teams.” Nordin feels the boys have come a long way from the beginning of the season improving both their communication and focus.
Jr. Coach Jim Chorney said this about his team, “This year has been a very competitive season for the Junior Boys Team having just recently being eliminated from playoff contention. The team has provided onlookers with a nice balance of finesse and power, demonstrating skilled setting, aggressive attack hits and some impressive verticals.
The players have not disappointed in their competitiveness on the court. All of their wins have come in the form of 3-0 victories and their losses have been extremely tight matches, taking both the first place team (Kenora) and the second place team (Sioux Lookout) to the maximum 5 set games.
“All in all, it has been a successful season for the Junior Boys Volleyball team and with a few more fortuitist bounces the team could have easily ended up in the upper echelon of the league,” concluded Chorney.
Both boys teams play their last games of the season tomorrow against Pelican Falls. The public is invited to come out and cheer on all the Owls as they try for one more victory on the season.