Team went undefeated throughout regular season and playoffs

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Skill testing question: What east Toronto high school went through their entire regular season and post-season undefeated to claim their Toronto District School Board hoops title?

Most people who know a little bit about local sports would say the obvious answer - hoops powerhouse Eastern Commerce.

And that answer is actually right, too.

The senior girls hoops team from Eastern Commerce, which is at 16 Phin Ave., just south of the Danforth at Donlands Avenue, did do all of the above, and, in fact are the number one ranked senior girls high school hoops team in the entire province going into this week's Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) quad-A championships in Sarnia (where they are ranked number 1). It kicked off yesterday (Thursday).

But coming in, a bit under the radar, was another east Toronto high school that also accomplished the same feat - Riverdale Collegiate.

Last week, the junior girls hoops team from the school, which is at 1094 Gerrard St. at Jones Avenue, won the TDSB's top tier one junior championship.

And they won it emphatically, 52-30 over Scarborough's Wexford Collegiate.

And unlike Eastern Commerce, an "open school" which attracts players from throughout the city, Riverdale Collegiate draws almost exclusively from the neighbourhood.

Cam Kilgour, who coaches the team along with community volunteer Barry Benjamin (ironically an Eastern Commerce grad), was able to roll in the entire dozen players.

Riverdale was led by Vaneil Simpson with 30 points.

Coach Kilgour called her an "extremely talented" point guard who is also "very solid defensively."

She's one of only two players on the team who play club basketball, the other being Shaquilla Alexander, who he termed "a very good rebounder and also a competent shooter."

At the other end of the spectrum, he said Grade 9 student Kayla Van Der Kolk had never played competitive hoops prior to attending Riverdale, but turned out to be a quick study.

"She was our centre, and she was brilliant, very good rebounder, smart player."

That trio combined for most of the scoring in the championship game, he said, and anchored the team throughout the season.

The team was consistently dominant, winning four of their five post season games by double-digit margins.

That includes a city semifinal 54-42 win over west champ Etobicoke Collegiate, the south division final 55-44 over Lawrence Park Collegiate, the south semi 53-46 over Humberside Collegiate (the only single digit victory margin) and the south quarterfinal 62-34 over Western Technical School.

In addition all of their eight regular season wins were by double digit margins, save for one game against Lawrence Park, which was a true thriller, going into double overtime before Riverdale pulled it out 59-58.

"Two of our key players fouled out and it was in the Lawrence Park gym so that was an amazing victory," said Kilgour.

They came into the season so far under the radar that coach Kilgour concedes they had a tough time getting into tournaments this season, so they only played in one at the U of T where they took their only two losses of the season - both to "very skilled" non-TDSB teams.

Although they did get to taste defeat, which is never a bad thing, coach Kilgour said the team always remained pretty grounded.

"By no means are they a cocky team. I would say over half of the girls, this is their first experience playing competitive basketball... There was absolutely no swagger, no overconfidence."

The nucleus will be moving up to senior next year and coach Kilgour said they'll have their work cut out for them, especially being in the same division as powerhouse Eastern Commerce (which did not field a junior team).

"My feeling is for next year, this year's junior champions will get a real good test, and that's good, it will make them better players.

"I'm not going to make any predictions about how they'll do, but they will be competing against some very, very skilled players.

"In terms of basketball strategy, they are under-sized. The difference was that at the junior level their quickness and their physical fitness could compensate.

"But I think when you get Grade 11, Grade 12 girls who are six feet tall and you're fielding a team with girls five-foot two-inches, five-foot three-inches, five-foot four-inches, the taller team just gets so many second chance points off rebounds that it's pretty hard.

"I've always appreciated as a coach, quicker, small teams beating a team of giants, but it becomes harder as they grow older."

But there's plenty of time to worry about that next year.

For now, they can bask in the glow of a championship season.

Team roster: Shaquilla Alexander, Judy Ha, Stephanie Li, Cihang Ma, Chanel Ramnarine, Vaneil Simpson, Ryan Steyer, Kayla Van Der Kolk, Morgan Webb, Georgena Wynter, Mandy Yee and Ruby Zhuang.