New Brunswick 40            
  Bishop’s 77 Bishop’s 60        
  Brock 47 Brock 42 Bishop’s 64    
  Winnipeg 46            
              —–BISHOP’S  
  Concordia 62            
  Laurentian 46 Concordia 58 Victoria 49    
  Victoria 65 Victoria 63        
  Manitoba 28            

       In the quarterfinals, top-seeded Victoria (29-1) going into the tourney, defeated 8th-seeded Manitoba, which had qualified as host after finishing third in the GPAC, 65-28, as Shelley Godfrey scored 16, Sandy Chambers 11, Tracie McAra 10, Susie Neil 8, Sandy Espeseth 6, Janice Mackie 6, Dina Von Hahn 4 and Janine Prince 4, while Shawnee harle, Jane Williams and Robin Fitzgerald were scoreless. Kelly Picken paced the Bisonettes with 10. Ester Johnson added 9, Shannon Jonathon 3, Kris Penner 2, Diane Perrault 2 and Jennifer Finch 2, while Angela Foster, Donna Partridge, Karen Osterwald and Kathy Sudletsky were scoreless. Manitoba was plagued by 34 turnovers, sloppy passes and poor shot selection. The Vikings were simply too much for Manitoba coach Addy Ryngach’s team. Victoria led 34-20 at the half.

       Third-seeded Brock defeated 2nd-seeded Winnipeg 47-46 as 5-5 guard Janice Jockel hit a free throw to cap a three-point play to give the Badgers a 47-44 lead. Deb Belinsky hit a field goal at the buzzer to narrow the margin. Winnipeg was ahead 24-22 at the half in a low-scoring affair as both team’s zone defences proved impregnable and both suffered the jitters. “Defence – geez, you won’t find much tougher defence than that,” said Brock coach Pat Woodburn. “It was physical, very physical. Both of these teams can score a lot of points but I guess at the nationals, it’s the defence that does it for you.” Maureen Kelly led Brock with 15. Candi Lohr added 14 and Janice Joekel 11. Belinsky led Winnipeg with 13. Beth Cochran and Jill Mathez each added 9. The Wesmen led 24-22 at the half. With 57 seconds to play, Janice Jockel pilfered the ball from behind. The ball flew loose, hit teammate Patty Stamps and bounced back to Joekel, who notched a runout. Fouled on the following play, Jockel added an insurance free throw. Winnipeg coach Tom Kendall noted “in the end, it was just too close. The pressure was just too much. That’s going to happen when you have a young team.” Woodburn told the St. Catharines Standard that “it was a battle. We really struggled all the way. Our offence was cold. We couldn’t buy a basket.”

       Bishop’s whipped New Brunswick 77-40. Red Bloomers coach Coleen Dufresne told The Brunswickan that Lynn Poulson, Andrea Blackwell and Wendy Verrechia and Joanne Gordon proved too much of a challenge in the blocks. “They’re big. They’re strong. But most of all, they have the experience. They have three players with international experience and that’s something you can’t take away from them. They have a tremendous ball club. They execute well and if they turn it over, they just come back at you and do it right.” The Gaiters hit .500 from the floor, while the Red Bloomers hit .280.

       In the last quarterfinal, wildcard Concordia throttled 4th-seeded Laurentian 62-46 as Joanne Bourque scored 18. Barb Tucker led the Voyageurs with 16.

       In the semis, Victoria defeated Concordia 63-58 as Tracie McAra scored 18, Shelley Godfrey 11, Sandy Espeseth 10, Sandy Chambers 8, Jamie Mackie 6, Susie Neil 6 and Janine Prince 4, while Shawnee Harle and Jane Williams were scoreless. Victoria took a 35-29 lead and then withstood a furious Stingers rally. The undersized Stingers sat back in a zone and got killed on the boards 41-14. Joanne Bourque led Concordia with 17. Susan Hylland added 14, Beth Jordan 10, Janet Hylland 9, Beth Mansfield 6 and Carolyn Marriott 2. “The experience of being there made the difference,” said Concordia coach Mike Hickey. Victoria coach Kathy Shields noted that “I thought we handled that zone quite well. We got the ball inside fairly easily and also worked it to the outside. But we knew it was coming because they’ve played it all year.”

       In the other semi, Bishop’s defeated Brock 60-42 as Lynn Polson scored 15, Andrea Blackwell 11, Wendy Verrechia 19 and Joanne Gordon 11. Patty Stamps led Brock with 14. Maureen Kelly added 13 and Candi Lohr 8. “When you have two first-team all-Canadians out there, you have to gear your whole defence to stop them. We said before the game, we would make the other three starters hurt us. And they did,” said Brock coach Pat Woodburn. “The ones we counted on to miss were hot, especially in the last six minutes of the first half and throughout the second half.” Brock led 10-2 at the start but stalled. Still, they stretched their lead to 26-16 at the half. But the Gaiters calmed down in the second half. “We were throwing up all kinds of bricks,” said Verrechia. “But we kept calm and just kept plugging away until it happened for us. Sometimes, you just come out cold.” Bishop’s coach Wayne Hussey noted that “I told them old comeback stories at the shooting practice we held earlier in the day. I told them five stories about teams that were down by 16 points with three minutes to play and managed to win. I said anything can happen out there and told them not to get discouraged at whatever goes on. Just keep playing your game.” The Gaiters led 27-21 at the half. The Badgers hit 16-47 from the floor and 10-19 from the line. Brock took an early 8-0 lead but trained 26-16 at the half. Badgers coach Pat Woodburn told the St. Catharines Standard that “it was a total disaster. We beat ourselves. We couldn’t have beaten five old ladies the way were shooting. … We shut down their stars but the ‘no-names’ killed us. They hit with everything they threw at the basket. … Jamie’s injury sure was a key. Without her, it’s not the same offence … It wasn’t for a lack of effort and it wasn’t anything that they threw at us defensively. We just didn’t play well. I guess part of it was just being at nationals for the first time … the tension … the lack of experience at this level.” Brock finished (30-3) on the campaign.

       In the final, Bishop’s stomped Victoria 64-49. The previous September, it appeared as if there’d be no women’s program at Bishop’s when only six people attended the first tryouts, Coach Wayne Hussey said that we “simply went out and looked around the school for other people to play. We managed to find a few good athletes who hadn’t played before but were interested in helping us out. 5-8 forward Joanne Gordon had sat out the last two seasons because of workload and cash problems.” Gordon said that “Wayne came and asked me to try out but at first, I wasn’t sure. I knew they always had a good team and well, I wasn’t sure I could live up to it. But Wayne and the rest of the team gave me a lot of confidence – taught me a lot. Tonight, I was playing for three vets (Polson, Verrechia, and Blackwell). I knew how it must have been for them to lose to Vic those other years. I played for them and my coach.” Tourney MVP Lynn Polson scored 20, Andrea Blackwell 15, Wendy Verrechia 14, Joanne Gordon 11 and Wendy Waters 4, while Cathy Logue, Fiona Seymour, Lisa Moore and Senj Temple were scoreless. Tracie McAra led Victoria with 18. Sandy Chambers added 11, Sandy Espeseth 10, Shelley Godfrey 6 and Jamie Mackie 4, while Janine Prince, Shawnee Harle, Susie Neil, Jane Williams, Robin Fitzgerald and Dina Von Hahn were scoreless. Bishop’s led 30-24 at the half after slowing the tempo severely. Hussey noted “we took the inside completely away from them. We wanted to make them take 30 shots from the outside to beat us tonight. That was our philosophy.” Victoria coach Kathy Shields noted “they had to stay out of foul trouble and in that respect, they stuck to their game plan. Offensively, they managed to run their tempo. We tried to put the pressure on them but we just kept getting fouls. And anytime we would make a little comeback, something would happen to thwart it.”

       The all-tourney team featured: MVP Lynn Polson (Bishop’s); Andrea Blackwell (Bishop’s); Joanne Bourque (Concordia); Shelley Godfrey (Victoria); Tracie McAra (Victoria); and Wendy Verrechia (Bishop’s).

       The co-bronze medalist Brock Badgers: Janice Jockel; Candi Lohr; Maureen Kelly; Lori MacKay; Patty Stamps; coach Pat Woodburn

       The co-bronze medalist Concordia Stingers: Joann Bourque; Sue Hylland; Beth Jordan; Janet Hylland; Beth Mansfield; Carolyn Marriott;

       The silver medalist Victoria Vikings: Tracie McAra; Sandy Chambers; Sandy Espeseth; Jamie Mackie; Susie Neil; Janine Prince; Dina Von Hahn; Shawnee Harle; Jane Williams; Robyn Fitzgerald; Shelley Godfrey; coach Kathy Shields

       The champion Bishop’s Gaiters: Andrea Blackwell; Lynn Polson; Wendy Verrecchia; Joanne Gordon; Cathy Logue; Bonnie MacNaughton; Lisa Moore; Joanne Pye; Fiona Seymour; Senj Temple; Sheila Ward; Wendy Waters; coach Wayne Hussey