By Sean Hatchard
Fourth-year veteran Lindsey Reeveswhit has gone through her share of ups and downs with the Lisgar Collegiate Institute Lords senior girls basketball team over the last three seasons.
Two years ago, the team struggled dreadfully in the tier I league — the top high school level in the city. Last season, the Lords dropped down to the tier II league and Reeveswhit led her team to an 8-2 regular season record in a rebuilding year.
But Reeveswhit, last season’s most valuable player, said this year’s squad is stronger and her teammates are excited for the coming season as Lisgar takes a run at the city championship.
The Lords are training for the National Capital Secondary Schools Athletic Association senior girls basketball season, which starts in early October.
“We’re looking pretty good this year,” said Reeveswhit, an 18-year-old guard. “We’re all pretty much good friends and we’ve played together for a couple years, so we’re really learning to play together as a team.”
Last season, Lisgar finished second in the East division in the regular season, but the successful campaign came to a quick end with a first-round playoff exit, courtesy of Cairine Wilson Secondary.
Reeveswhit will also handle assistant coaching duties for the Centretown high school team.
“Hopefully, we can finish the regular season strong and have a good playoff spot, but I have a really good feeling about this year,” the OAC student said. “A good feeling that wasn’t there in previous years.”
“We have different dynamics this season and a group of girls with a bunch of skill.”
Reeveswhit, along with fellow veterans Neala Barton and Allie Akers, highlight a core of returning players to the Lisgar lineup. And that has second-year coach Angus McCabe smiling.
“Ideally, a team is built with players who are returning and we have that advantage going for us this year,” McCabe said.
“We have three-quarters of our team returning and we have great communication and team spirit that existed with the veterans and we hope to pass that on to the rookies.”
McCabe said last season his squad focused on “commitment to the team, working hard at every moment and picking each other up,” in hopes of carrying those skills over to this season.
“We have a strong work ethic and we have hard workers on this team, along with individual and team skills,” the coach added.
Ultimately, though, it’s the team’s experience that should give the Lords an edge this season.
“That helps out so much on the court,” said Barton, a grade 12 post player. “We really have a great bond after playing together for a couple years, so we know where each other will be on the court and what type of players we are.”
Barton said she would love nothing more than to close out her high school career with a city championship and even decided against transferring to another school to play her final season with Lisgar.
“That would be amazing. It would be like a dream come true to go out with such a positive feeling,” she said. “It would be the best feeling ever.”