‘Six strong’: St. Joseph’s Rams head to OFSAA after winning title with only six players

The St. Joseph’s Rams of St. Thomas are heading to OFSAA after winning the title with only six players. CTV's Brent Lale reports.

A Cinderella story is unfolding in St. Thomas, Ont.

The St. Joseph’s Rams senior girl’s basketball team is the fourth seed in the upcoming OFSAA AA Girls Basketball Tournament after winning TVRA and WOSSAA with just six players.

“We call them ‘six strong,’” said David Fox, the Rams’ head coach.

What is even more impressive is that six includes one grade 12, one grade 11, and four junior-aged players in grade 10.

“We’ve been battling injuries, and we’ve lost some key players,” said Melissa Gillies, the Rams grade 11 captain. “I feel like we’re pretty close as a team and we just kind of rallied around each other.”

Gillies says they lost a player at the beginning of the year due to personal reasons, then had others lost due to an ACL injury, a shoulder injury, and two who hurt their ankles.

Despite being decimated by injury, the Rams destroyed their competition in playoffs and at WOSSAA.

They are very young, but talented.

“Every one of the juniors that we have here is hard working,” said Anna Verbruggen, the Rams’ star leading scorer who is in grade 10. “They earned their spot in the team. It’s interesting I think that our team captain also is a grade 11. It’s a young team and it’s just awesome experience of being up and going to OFSAA.”

To add some depth at provincials – which begins Thursday in Belleville, Ont. – they have called up four more juniors for the ride.

“It’ll be nice to have more than one sub,” joked Gillies.

When they begin Thursday, they will be considered one of the favourites to win it all.

“The four seed was a bit of a surprise to me,” said Fox. “We played in five tournaments this year, and the teams we played in tournaments were challenging for us. I think that was part of the reason we probably ended up being seeded fourth is just because of the competition we’ve had this season.”

This school has a long history of winning provincial championships.

When they were an ‘A’ school, they won OFSAA in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1996.

However, it’s been 29 years since they won a gold medal, and this is their first trip to the dance since 2011. While this young team will be a force for the next few seasons, they have their sights set on the present.

“I said to the girls before we got started here, we’re going there to win some games,” said Fox. “It’s not just about the experience for us. We want to win some games at OFSAA, and we want to come home with some hardware.”

Being one of the top seeds has boosted their confidence and given belief to this small but mighty group.

“To bring it [gold] home, would just mean the world,” said Verbruggen.

They want to add 2025 to the list of teams on the championship wall in the gym.

“We’re going there to medal, and let’s win this thing,” said Gillies. The Rams open their tournament against #18 Bayview Glen at 10:45 a.m. on Thursday.