EAST       WEST            
  Toronto 18-2 29-5 Michele Belanger Western 14-0 28-2 Bob Delaney      
  Laurentian 13-7 22-11 Ennis/S McLean Lakehead 11-3 18-13 Stu Julius      
  York 13-7 23-9 Bill Pangos McMaster  8-6 15-17 Theresa Burns      
  Ottawa 8-12 12-16 Wanda Pilon Guelph  8-6 15-17 Angela Orton      
  Queen’s 6-14 12-19 Dave Wilson Wilfrid Laurier  5-9  5-16 Sue Lindley      
  Ryerson 5-15  6-22 Sandra Pothier Waterloo  4-10  8-20 Tom O’Brien      
  Carleton 0-20  0-24 Alex Overwijk Windsor  4-10  5-14 Shawn O’Rourke      
          Brock  2-12  5-23 Chris Critelli      
                       

In January, long time Laurentian head coach Peter Ennis died after a lengthy battle with leukemia. Coach of the Voyageurs since 1979, Ennis accumulated an overall record of 248-48, including 189-14 in league play. He led the Lady Vees to two CIAU titles, two CIAU silver medals, three CIAU bronze medals as well as seven OWIAA titles. The Voyageurs made the CIAU tourney in all 17 years under his tutelage. He was named OWIAA coach of the year in 1984, 1985, 1991 and 1992 and CIAU coach of the year in 1987 and 1991. Was also chair of the department of interuniversity athletics at Laurentian from 1986-93. Ennis was also head coach of Canada’s national women’s team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He coached the gold medal winning Canada Games team in 1985 and was coach of the Ontario team for several years. Ennis was also the national women’s team assistant coach from 1989-1994 and women’s team head coach during the 1993 World Universiade Games. He was replaced on an interim basis by assistant Shirlene McLean.

       Playoff non-qualifiers:

       Brock Badgers: Jennifer Youngblut, Jennifer Firmani, Tracey Swift, Carla Bisenthal, Sara Montague, Laura Hollis, Izzy Bachmanek, Danah DeLorenzo, coach Chris Critelli, assistant Karen Reinhardt, assistant Wendie Nutt

       Carleton Ravens: Jennifer Miller, Jodi Drummond, Rosie Warden, Karin Brown, Jenn Walters, Jacqueline Walters, Carol Graves, Kelly Dixon, Jillian Edgar, coach Alex Overwijk

       Queen’s Golden Gaels: Wendy Moon, Andrea Thomson, Deanah Shelley, Cara Waterfall, Stephanie Glancy, Tammy Cooper, Cheryl Hunt, Jacqueline Beaudoin, Kate Kelsey, coach Dave Wilson

       Ryerson Rams: Sandrise James, Karina Navarro, Georgia Parkes, Cathy Taylor, Karen Ure, Nadine Barnes, Lily Gyanmfi-Kumanini, Ioana Lupascu, Miruna Muller, Becky Owen, Lisa Poulin, Sandrise James, Rebecca Owen, Daniela Puhst, coach Sandy Pothier

       Waterloo Warriors: Jacalyn White, Mary-Frances Lapthorne, Jodi Hawley, Kelly Burroughs, Adrienne Cillis, Janis Goldie, Kristi Tomasin, Diane DeZoti, Catherine Dietz, Pamela Dueck, Laura Duskocy, Natalie Ioanidis, Victoria Johnson, Robin McAlpine, Annette Vieria, coach Tom O’Brien

       Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks: Leah Andrew, Sarah Collins, Sheri Faber, Kelly Gentleman, Audrey Kaersenhout, Aimee LeClair, Tracey Linklater, Jennifer Martin, Kate McClenaghan, Lisa Moore, Amanda Peers, Erin Towns, Brenda Vrkljan, coach Sue Lindley

       Windsor Lancers: Michelle DeHaan, Georgia Risnita, Denise Strachan, Nancy Vranic, Lesley Goosens, Maureen Murphy, Casey Winegard, Celeste Courneya, Sheri McKnight, Summer Strachan, Amanda Pfeffer, Julie Yakopich, Megan Glanfield, Melissa Hunt, coach Sean O’Rourke, assistant Tricia Winik

       In the quarterfinals, held in Waterloo, Toronto defeated Guelph 76-59. The Blues broke open the affair with a 12-0 second-half run. “There’s not going to be an easy game in this tournament,” Blues head coach Michele Belanger told the Toronto Star. “Guelph played really hard.” Using a fast-break running style and balanced scoring attack, the Blues eventually wore down the less-talented Gryphons, who relied on the scoring touch of Laurie Townshend to keep them in the game. “I think we did what we had to do,” said Toronto’s Laura Verbeeten, who finished with 12 points, while Rachel Dei-Amoah led the team with 20 and Liz Hart followed with 16. Townshend paced the Gryphons with 23. The Gryphons (coached by Angela Orton, assisted by Eric Stewart, managed by Christine East and Daelyn Woolnough, and trained by Cheryl Macedo and Sarah Wills) included Rena Wesolowski, Karen Arnott, Laurie Townshend, Skye Angus, Jodi Jenkins, Pat Marcello, Andrea Bielecki, Kristy Newton, Julie Donohue, Gina Tatti, Aaryn Harris, Anne Herbison, Elise Volpe and Nicole Hogg.

       Laurentian thrashed Lakehead 70-56 as Karen Vos scored 15 and Katie Malone 14. Katya Mason led the Thunderwolves with 16. The Thunderwolves (coached by Stu Julius) also included Angela Hrkac, Allison Smith, Alicia Gunn, Amy Pinnegar, Carolyn Bazaluk, Kerri Jo Timmermans, Becky Morrison, Erin Manahan, Jennifer Nickason and Robin Lawrence.

       York defeated McMaster 74-58 on a combination of Karen Jackson in the paint and Maya Habash’s perimeter shooting. York led 38-36 at the half. The Yeowomen built a 9 point lead midway through the second half and while McMaster briefly cut it to five, York was never really threatened and sealed the win with a late 9-0 run. Jackson finished with 29 points, 4 rebounds and 4 blocks. Habash scored 20 on 4-7 from the arc. Shannon Carey added 11 rebounds and 6 points. Carla Vesprini led McMaster with 17 points. Dani Chabot added 12, Tara Emerick 8 and Jennifer Sutherland 6 and 8 boards. Marauders coach Theresa Burns said “we got scrambly for five or six minutes in the seonc half and got away from our game plan defensively. They took advantage of it and they got the ball to Jackson.” Joan Sutherland said “we had lapses in our rebounding and that really killed us. We gave them a lot of second chances.” The Marauders (coached by Theresa Burns) also included Kerri Hill, Jacqueline White.

       In the last quarterfinal, the Western Mustangs defeated the Ottawa Gee-Gees 79-68 after exploding to a 9-0 opening run. Although Ottawa rallied back to tie the game at 31 at the half, the Gee-Gees suddenly went cold from the floor in the second half. With the score knotted at 43, Lori Bartolotta hit a trey and Jennifer Haylor four consecutive buckets as the Mustangs exploded with an 11-0 run. Jenn Haylor paced the Mustangs with 22. Angela Nobes added 17 and Lori Bartolotta 13. Ottawa shot 24-66 from the floor. Stella Ighorewo led Ottawa with 16 points and 18 rebounds. Irene Vandoros added 15 points. “Our shooting was just too cold,” said Ottawa coach Wanda Pilon. “We tried to go over their zone defence but we just couldn’t do it. Meanwhile, Western shot over 50 per cent in the second half.” The Gee-Gees (coached by Wanda Pilon, assisted by Fabienne Perrin and Rob Anderson) also included Lori Messer, Karen Bradshaw, Valerie DeBigare, Melissa McLaughlin, Sue Snider and Dawn Yearwood.

       In the semis, Toronto defeated Laurentian 77-65 despite falling behind by 16 in the first half. Elizabeth Hart led the Blues with 27 points and 9 rebounds. “Over-all, I’m not complaining,” a relieved Blues coach Michele Belanger told the Toronto Star. She was far more distressed in the first half, when her team trailed by 14 and played tentatively. Toronto regrouped a little before the half to trail 42-36 at the break, and then played stellar defence to open the second half. They did not allow a point in the first five minutes and took their first lead of the game at 44-42. They spread the floor and romped. “I think it’s a real credit to the work ethic that Michele instils in us as a team, that we were able to come back from 14 points down,” said Liz Hart. The Blues worked the ball inside to post players Alicia Brand and Laurel Johnson down the stretch, and subsequently pulled away from tiring Laurentian.

       In the other semi, York stunned top-ranked Western 83-76. The Yeowomen led 43-33 at the half as they adroitly exploited Western’s zone. They led by as many as 14 in the second half. But Western made a few adjustments and began getting the ball in the hands of Jennifer Haylor, daughter of Mustang football coach Larry Haylor, and rallied back to take a 74-71 lead before Jackson ripped off 10 of York’s 12 final points to pull out the win. “We just ran into a York team that was definitely hot. They probably played their best game of the season,” Mustangs coach Bob Delaney told the Western Gazette. Yeowomen coach Bill Pangos said “our plan was not to allow [Jennifer] Haylor to get loose. She got loose near the end a few times and I got a little upset with my team at that point.” Angela Nobes said “the girls dug deep and we knew what we wanted to do, but we just fell a little bit short at the end.” Delaney said “Karen Jackson was simply unstoppable. The key was when [Lori] Bartolotta fouled out, we didn’t have anybody to cover her.”
       In the bronze medal match, the number one ranked Western Mustangs made their case for a wildcard spot by defeating Laurentian 107-75. West division MVP Angela Nobes scored 27 points and handed out 7 assists. All-star Jennifer Haylor scored 32. The Mustangs took an eight point lead over Laurentian at the half, quickly expanded that to 20 in the second half and never looked back. “We went out on Sunday to prove ourselves,” Angela Nobes told the Western Gazette. “I think the York game was definitely a wakeup call for us.” The Voyageurs (coached by Shirlene McLean) included Stephanie Harrison, Katie Malone, Shawna Conway, Tanya Tatti, Shelley Dewar, Stephanie De Sutter.

       In the final, coach Michele Belanger’s Blues earned a trip to the nationals by defeating York 61-56 after taking control in the waning minutes and hanging on for a victory. The Blues led York by seven in the first half but the Yeowomen’s 53-30 rebounding edge kept them in the contest. Laura Verbeeten’s trey with 2:45 to play put Toronto up for good. Karen Bottineau led the Blues with 17. Laura Verbeeten added 11, Samantha Burrows 10 and Elizabeth Hart 6. Tournament MVP Karen Jackson paced York with 22 points and 12 rebounds, while Shannon Carey ripped down 15 boards. “They crashed the boards very well,” said Belanger, the east division coach of the year. “They played with so much heart today. We had to remind the players, if you don’t play to your potential, they’re going to take the game away from you.” York coach Bill Pangos said the OWIAA title “would have been icing on the cake, no doubt about it. “We believed in ourselves all year. Our goal was to make it to the nationals and we did it.” Karen Jackson dominated the first half, scoring 14 of York’s 30 points as they trailed by one at the break. Jackson committed her fourth foul eight minutes into the second half with the score tied at 46 and when she returned five minutes later the score was still even. “We were playing really great defence, that’s what held us in it,” said Jackson. York’s play at the offensive end proved to be their downfall, particularly in the final few minutes. York shot 23-75 (.310) from the field, and 10-18 from the line. Toronto shot 24-62 (.390) from the floor and 10-18 from the line. “It was pretty bad shooting but over-all we did well,” said Belanger. who watched in anticipation as York missed their last six free throws of the game. “It’s Sunday, there was a God somewhere.” Despite their trouble from the charity stripe, York was still only down 57-56 when Jackson fouled out of the game with 55 seconds left. Toronto’s Karen Bottineau hit both subsequent free throws and then Liz Hart and Laura Verbeeten hit one each on the final two possessions to put the game away. “My knees were a little wobbly (at the free-throw line), but I just thought of a comfortable place I like to shoot them, like my driveway,” said Bottineau. Laurel Johnson told the Varsity “I’d like to say [the win is] unbelievable, but I can’t. I had complete confidence in my team that we could get this far. [The provincial title] was our goal at the beginning of the season and although it was a rocky road, we somehow pulled out win after win.” Laura Verbeeten said “when it counted, we came through and that’s all that matters.” Blues coach Michele Belanger said “we almost threw this game away, and I thought York’ s heart and desire just kept going. I think the only salvation was that both teams were shooting pretty poorly. York pounded the boards very hard and that’s a lesson for us to learn, so we’re going into the championship having to work really hard on boxing out and getting ourselves going.”

       Following the season, John Campbell is named head coach at Laurentian. He had been coaching at Sudbury’s Cambrian College for previous four seasons. A former OUAA all-star, Campbell had also spent one year as an assistant to Victoria’s Guy Vetrie.

       The bronze medalist Western Mustangs: Angela Nobes; Jennifer Haylor; Cindy Scott; Tenneka Blaauboer; Nadia Pezzolo; Tina Poldervaart; Adrianna Pompa; Ali Crandlemire; Lori Bartolotta; Holli Clarkson; Shannon Kaupp; Sonya Doherty; Lisa Grant; Megan Reid; coach Bob Delaney; assistant Don Coleman; assistant Jodie Hauch; therapist Denise Vandermullen; trainer Joanne O’Flaherty; trainer Karen Austin; trainer Ennette Pauze

       The silver medalist York Lions: Karen Jackson; Shannon Carey; Maya Habash; coach Bill Pangos

       The champion Toronto Varsity Blues: Laura Verbeeten; Karen Bottineau; Elizabeth Hart; Maja Babic; Stephanie Splitter; Melissa Bremner; Samantha Burrows; Alicia Brand; Suzanne McAlpine; Rachel Dei-Amoah; Laurel Johnson; Naomi Dove; Alicia Brand; coach Michele Belanger; assistant Cathy Casey, assistant Mary Ann Kowal, assistant Andrea Blackwell