In the wildcard game, the Winnipeg Grant Park Pirates edged the Brandon Vincent Massey Vikings 66-61. Aimee Johnston paced the Vikings with 21. Allan Johnston added 13. The Vikings also included Sarah Didychu, Jenna Kissock, Alyssa Saltesz.
In the opening round: …………………………………………………… The 8th-seeded Winnipeg College Louis Riel Voyageurs whipped the 9th-seeded Winnipeg Garden City Fighting Gophers 58-32. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Winnipeg Oak Park Raiders clipped the 12th-seeded Dakota Lancers 55-45. …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Winnipeg River East Kodiaks nipped the 11th-seeded Winnipeg Grant Park Pirates 48-43. The Pirates included Tia Ruddock. …………………………………………………… The 10th-seeded Winnipeg Glenlawn Lions thrashed the 7th-seeded Winnipeg Miles Macdonell Buckeyes 68-43. The Buckeyes included Victoria King.
In the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Winnipeg Vincent Massey Trojans crushed the 8th-seeded Winnipeg College Louis Riel Voyageurs 57-40.
The 5th-seeded Winnipeg Oak Park Raiders edged the 4th-seeded Winnipeg St. Mary’s Academy Flames 50-47.
The 3rd-seeded Winnipeg Sisler Spartans dumped the 6th-seeded Winnipeg River East Kodiaks 71-56. The Kodiaks included Krystal Schouten.
In the last quarterfinal, the 2nd-seeded Brandon Crocus Plains Plainsmen dusted the 10th-seeded Winnipeg Glenlawn Lions 71-60 as Danielle DeGagne scored 34, while nabbing 13 boards and dishing 5 assists. Tia Coulter added 15, along with 15 boards and 3 assists. The Lions led 34-33 at the half. Ayse Kalkan led the Lions with 27. The Lions also included Madison Bradbury, Kristen Young.
In the semis, the top-seeded Winnipeg Vincent Massey Trojans slammed the 5th-seeded Winnipeg Oak Park Raiders 66-26. Stephanie Kleysen was chosen player of the game for the Trojans after scoring 15. Danielle Baril added 14. Alicia Grant was chosen player of the game for the Raiders. Oak Park team was simply snake-bitten at the rim as the team had shots bouncing and rolling off in the first quarter to trail 18-1 with their only point off Alyssa Grant’s free throw. Vincent Massey’s depth showed throughout the game as the team ran the ball up the floor, clogged up the key on defence, deployed a full-court press, substituted frequently and seemed to be on fresh legs every time down the floor. “We pushed ourselves all this week and we made the shots we could in this game so we’re excited and ready for the final,” Trojans player of the game Kleysen told the Winnipeg Free Press.
In the other semi, the 2nd-seeded Brandon Crocus Plains Plainsmen eliminated the 3rd-seeded Winnipeg Sisler Spartans 77-69. Danielle DeGagne was chosen player of the game for the Plainsmen after scoring 28. Tia Coulter added 20. Cheryl Paranaque was chosen player of the game for the Spartans after scoring 17. “I spent my 18th birthday with my family; this team feels like my family, and there’s no better way I can think of to spend it than this,” Plainsmen guard Jessica McCharles, a Grade 12 player who scored 7, told the Winnipeg Free Press. She and DeGagne were both members of the Crocus Plains girls’ volleyball team that won the AAAA title back in December. “It’s the best feeling in the world to be going to the final because we did it for volleyball, too. Me and Danielle were part of that, too, so it’s amazing to be able to do this in our Grade 12 year.” It was a tight battled until DeGagne sank a three-point buzzer-beater to send her team to the dressing room at halftime with a 36-30 lead. In the second half, defensive pressure by Crocus forced Sisler into rushed shots and turnovers. “We worked all year for this. One of our main goals was to get to the provincial final and compete and now that we’re here, it’s quite an accomplishment,” said Crocus coach Dave Malowski, in his fourth year. Sisler led by as much as three (second quarter), trailed by as much as 19 (third quarter) and battled back to as close as seven (fourth quarter) before running out of time. The Spartans, who scored six three-pointers also got 15 points from Sierra Bubb and 9 from Jenna Gallant.
In the final, the top-seeded Winnipeg Vincent Massey Trojans nipped the 2nd-seeded Brandon Crocus Plains Plainsmen 67-65. The top-seeded Trojans staved off a 23-3 comeback from the defending champion Plainsmen in the second half to pull out the win despite nearly squandering a 20-point lead. Danielle DeGagne scored 39, including 21 of them in fourth quarter as the Plainsmen rallied. It was the first provincial title for the Vincent Massey girls’ team since 2003. “Our school hasn’t won a provincial championship in a long time and for us Grade 12s, with the Grade 11s, we won the provincial championship when we were in Grade 10, so for all of us to win it together now, it’s really special,” Vincent Massey guard Danielle Baril, who scored 14, told the Winnipeg Free Press. “We had a couple of lapses, and that can’t happen, but we’re just so excited that we came through and got it done in the end.” The Trojans led by as many as 20 points before the Plainsmen staged their fourth-quarter comeback. Trojans guard Stephanie Kleysen, who had been guarding DeGagne to that point, went out with 19 seconds left in the third quarter with foul trouble and DeGagne owned the floor after that. DeGagne’s three-point play with 3:15 remaining in the game tied it up at 58-58 and she gave her team its first and only lead of the night seconds later, going end-to-end for a layup. Vincent Massey’s Adele Baril tied it 60-60 and her sister, Danielle, drained a three-pointer with two minutes remaining to put the Trojans ahead for good. The Plainsmen’s Tia Coulter was hit with an intentional foul with 21 seconds to play. Baril hit 1-2 from the line, but as importantly, the ball remained in Massey’s possession. “We put in a great effort and we really fought back,” said DeGagne, a Grade 12 student who also won the Players’ Choice award and was bound for North Dakota State. “(I’m) a little sad, but we played a really good game and you can’t be upset with how we played and how we came back. It was a tough loss, of course, but Vincent Massey is a great basketball team so we just played as best we could and just fell short a little bit.” Trojans coach Stacy Hawash said she was proud of her team’s battle for the title. “I knew my kids could stay focused… but definitely their desire and heart came through,” Hawash said. “They’re competitors and they want to make that shot, they want to step up.” Danielle Barile said that Degagne “essentially just took the game into her own hands, and there’s not a lot that we could do about it. I guess we just lost our footing a bit. I’m just glad we got it back.” Crocus took a 60-58 lead with 2:49 to go, but Adele Baril, Danielle’s twin sister, knotted it up 14 seconds later. Danielle then dropped the biggest bomb of the night, a three-point dagger with 2:04 to go that put Massey on top for good. She added a two-point bucket on the Trojans’ next possession, and that was that. Rebecca Funk led the Trojans with 14. Danielle Bani added 11 and Deanna Hiebert 11`. “This group, their desire and heart comes through every single game,” Hawash said. Plainsmen coach Dave Malowski told the Brandon Sun said his troops were undone by a 10-0 Massey run to start the game and a 7-0 run in the final minutes. “I think they all know to a person that had we played two halves we’d probably have a banner that says champions. … I just think (the Trojans) were a little more aggressive, they wanted the ball more than we did early and we were kinda on our heels a wee bit…. They just seemed to want it a bit more at the start.”
The co-bronze medalist Winnipeg Oak Park Raiders: Alyssa Grant; Jasmine Stromberg; Sara Oswald; Shawna Solarchuk; Kate Durrian; coach Murray Brown
The co-bronze medalist Winnipeg Sisler Spartans: Cheryl Paranaque; Sierra Bubb; Jenna Gallant; Kayla Reyes; coach Michael Tan
The silver medalist Brandon Crocus Plains Plainsmen: Danielle DeGagne; Tia Coulter; Erin Wedgewood; Jessica McCharles; Nichelle Wilk; Samantha Lewis; Lizzy Symons; Josie DeGagne; Brittany Wiebe; Sarah Barclay; Rachelle Premack; coach Dave Malowski
The gold medalist Winnipeg Vincent Massey Trojans: Stephanie Kleysen; Adele Baril; Danielle Baril; Deanna Hiebert; Ashley Chichkowski; Danielle Baril; Rebecca Funk; coach Stacy Hawash