Hammarskjold girls capture varsity basketball championship

The Hammarskjold Vikings may have lost their best player to graduation, but they didn’t lose their will to win.

On Monday the varsity girls squad capped a perfect season, downing the Westgate Tigers 43-32 in front of the home-court crowd to capture a third straight Superior Secondary Schools Athletic Association title.

Jacquie Cleghorn’s 16-point effort led the way offensively for the Vikings, who took home the seventh title in school history.
Madison Wigwas was also a force to be reckoned with, dropping 13 on the visiting Tigers.

“It was pretty amazing,” said the 17-year-old Cleghorn, adding they dedicated the win to Donald Sutherland, the former Hammarskjold teacher and coach who died last February at age 74.

It was a slow start, Cleghorn admitted.

“I think it was that we just weren’t comfortable. But once we got the momentum going, we just couldn’t stop.”

Winning another title was amazing said Wigwas, who put up nine of her 13 points in an opening half that saw the Vikings take a 22-14 lead.

“It means the world. This is the second time winning (for me) and it’s the third for some of the girls on this team. When that buzzer hit zero, it was awesome. I was preparing for this for a long time.”

By no means were the Vikings handed the victory by the Tigers, a team seeking its first varsity girls basketball championship in 30 years.

The two teams were tied at 8-8 through the opening quarter and Westgate took the early lead in the second on a Kaitie Dampier bucket.

But Cleghorn took over, hitting three baskets before halftime, including a steal and hoop with time about to expire.

She hit a three-pointer early in the third to put the Vikings out in front 27-15, but the Tigers kept clawing away, pulling to within four by quarter’s end on a basket by Sam Read, who led all Westgate shooters with nine points.

The game remained tight until Cleghorn hit her third three-pointer of the second half and the Vikings wore down the clock, ahead by no less than seven the rest of the way.

Hammarskjold coach Bruno Corbin said the loss of Aliisa Heiskanen to the University of Ottawa made many think the Vikings run was over.

“I think people thought it was going to immensely affect Hammarskjold. It did. You can’t replace a player like that, but I have to say the kids last year that were on the team really stepped it up, improving throughout the summer,” Corbin said. “And what happened is we went perfect in the city. So that’s a testament to their work ethic and their work throughout the year.”

The Vikings travel to Dryden on Thursday and Friday for the NWOSSAA championship and the right to represent the region at provincials.