| (1) | John Abbott | 66 | ||||||
| (8) | Fanshawe | 61 | John Abbott | 88 | ||||
| (4) | Mohawk | 62 | Mohawk | 56 | John Abbott | 44 | ||
| (5) | Canadian Bible | 38 | ||||||
| —–LANGARA | ||||||||
| (2) | Langara | 75 | ||||||
| (7) | Red River | 35 | Langara | 55 | Langara | 47 | ||
| (3) | Medicine Hat | 65 | Medicine Hat | 53 | ||||
| (6) | N.S. Agricultural | 47 |
In the quarterfinals, held at Seneca College, the top-seeded Quebec champ John Abbott Islanders clipped the 8th-seeded Ontario runner-up Fanshawe Falcons 66-61 after leading 32-27 at the half. Joann McKay was selected player of the game for John Abbott, while Althea Yard and Joann McKay each scored 22.
The 4th-seeded Ontario champ Mohawk Mountaineers whipped the 5th-seeded Saskatchewan champ Canadian Bible College Crusaders 62-38 after leading 26-15 at the half. Player of the game Debbie Knowles paced Mohawk with 18. Barb Besonyodi added 10 and Melinda Coker 6. Mountaineers coach Earl Begg told the Hamilton Spectator that “Saskatchewan kind of wilted in the second half.” Denise Matheson led the Crusaders with 12. Crusaders coach Tim Morore said “two years ago, we never won a game in our league and this year we finished with a 14-2 record and have come a long way. Mohawk plays extremely well and we were a little scared because we have never really faced a team that tall before.”
The 2nd-seeded Langara (then the Vancouver CC) Falcons crushed the 7th-seeded Manitoba champ Red River CC Rebels 75-35 after leading 41-12 at the half. Lora Favor was selected player of the game for the Falcons.
In the last quarterfinal, the 3rd-seeded Alberta champ Medicine Hat Kwahommies crushed the 6th-seeded Nova Scotia champ N.S.A.C. Rams 65-47 after leading 36-17 at the half. Karen Bongaards was chosen player of the game for the Kwahommies.
In the bronze quarterfinal, Fanshawe Falcons clubbed the Canadian Bible Crusaders 80-38.
In the other bronze quarterfinal, the Red River CC Rebels edged the Nova Scotia Agricultural College Rams 61-58.
In the semis, the John Abbott Islanders defeated the Mohawk Mountaineers 88-54 after leading 39-27 at half. Althea Yard led John Abbott with 22 points, while Joann McKay added 15. Mohawk was paced by Melinda Coker’s 18 points. John Abbott’s Jennifer Heelis was selected player of the game. Islanders coach Chris Hunter told Canadian Press that “I’d like to thank the (CCAA) rankings people for getting us here this year. I posted those rankings up each week and it did a great job in motivating the girls. I couldn’t understand why we weren’t in the rankings some weeks. We were in frist place in our league for part of the year and never slipped below second.”
In the other semi, the Langara Falcons defeated the Medicine Hat Kwahommies 55-53, after Jamie Nystrom scored with seven seconds to go. She was later chosen player of the game. Sandi McLean led Langara with 14 points, while Debbie Weedmark led Medicine Hat with 19. Karen Bongaards added 10. “We played well against Vancouver,” Bongaards told the Medicine Hat Herald. “We had our running game going and we played good defence also. It was one of our better games this year.”
In the bronze semis, the Medicine Hat Kwahommies dumped the Fanshawe Falcons 55-47 as Debbie Weedmark scored 14, Margot Petruic 12 and Karen Bongaards 11. “Debbie played well today,” assistant coach Murray Sihvon told the Medicine Hat Herald. “She had to play a lot of minutes because of Kim Gapka being out with a sprained ankle.”
In the other bronze semi, the Mohawk Mountaineers clubbed the Red River Rebels 70-43 as Debbie Knowles scored 18, Melinda Coker 16, Debbie Rensen 12 and Barb Besenyodi 10.
In the bronze medal match, the Medicine Hat Kwahommies nipped the Mohawk Mountaineers 68-67 as Karen Bongaards scored 20, Margo Petruic 12 and Deb Weedmark 12. The Kudus led by 9 at the half and by as many as 13 in the final quarter. “We didn’t run as well as we did earlier in the tournament,” coach Marg Sihvon told the Medicine Hat Herald. “We made a lot of mental errors; turnovers and things which were probably due to physical and emotional fatigue, especially after that tough loss to Vancouver Community College Friday. It was a successful tournament. We didn’t really know the other teams, but we felt that the winner of our game with
Vancouver Community College would win it all. We were happy to win the bronze medal. But we were kind of disappointed that we did not play as well as we could have in our final game of the year.”
In the final, the Langara Falcons defeated the John Abbott Islanders 47-44 to become the first non-Quebec team to win the national crown. The Falcons led 22-21 at the half and were paced by Sandi McLean’s 16 points in a tight, defensive struggle. Tourney MVP Althea Yard led John Abbott with 15 points. Langara’s Claire Carder was chosen player of the game. Falcon coach Gerry McDonnell, in his first season at the women’s helm after a stint as the men’s assistant coach, told the Vancouver Sun that “I worked very closely with Duncan (McCallum) over the last few years and I knew he must be feeling a bit frustrated at coming so close, so often. I had a great bunch of girls to work with this year. They deserved the championship.” The Falcons were 15-0 in Totem conference play and finished the season 25-7. Langara almost captured a double hoops crown but its men’s team lost by a point in final.
The all-tourney team featured: MVP Althea Yard (John Abbott); Karen Bongaards (Medicine Hat); Joann McKay (John Abbott); Debbie Knowles (Mohawk); Sandi McLean (Langara); and Lora Favor (Langara)
The bronze medalist Medicine Hat Kwahommies: Karen Bongaards; Mare McConnell; Marina Schapansky; Adele Lansing; Karen Hagemester; Sharon Kubian; Kim Gupka; Cathy Ferguson; Debbie Biccun; coach Marg Sihvon; assistant Murray Sihvon
The silver medalist John Abbott Lady Islanders: Althea Yard; Joanne McKay; Jennifer Heelis; coach Chris Hunter
The gold medalist Langara Falcons: Lora Favor; Sandi McLean; Jamie Nystrom; Claire Carder; coach Gerry McDonnell