In the regional semis and provincial quarterfinals, held in Bristol, the top-seeded Lawrenceville-Bristol Carleton North Stars dusted the 8th-seeded St. George Fundy Mariners 89-16 as Clark scored 20, DeMerchant 20 and Martin 13. Charlene Hatt led the Mariners with 12.
In the other regional semi, the Hampton Huskies edged the St. Stephen Spartans 60-59 as Morrison scored 28 and Mackenzie 8. Andrea Gagnon led the Spartans with 19. Natalie Reid added 16. The Spartans led 34-31 at the half.
In the regional final and provincial semi, the top-seeded Lawrenceville-Bristol Carleton North Stars spanked the Hampton Huskies 70-34 as Clark scored 13, McIntosh 12, Martin 11 and Peterson 10. MacKenzie led the Huskies with 12. Morrison added 9.
In the regional semis and provincial quarterfinals held in Woodstock, the 2nd-seeded Woodstock Wildcats whipped the 7th-seeded Perth-Andover Southern Victoria Vikings 79-41 as Higgs scored 14 and MacMillan 14. Kristen Moore led the Vikings with 16.
In the other regional semi, the 3rd-seeded Campbellton Sugarloaf Bruins crushed the 6th-seeded Sackville Tantramar Titans 53-28 as Charlong scored 24. The Titans included Heather Box.
In the regional final and provincial semis, the 2nd-seeded Woodstock Wildcats clipped the 3rd-seeded Campbellton Sugarloaf Bruins 76-59 as McCue scored 16 and Higgs 15. Charlong led the Bruins with 23.
In the final, the top-seeded Lawrenceville-Bristol Carleton North Stars defeated the Woodstock Wildcats 69-65 as player of the game Clark scored 22 and Paterson 17. The Stars led 43-23 at the half but the Wildcats rallied to take a seven-point lead with five minutes to play. The Stars rallied with a trey by Peterson that knotted the score at 65 with 46 seconds to play. DeMerchant hit 3-4 from the line in the final 30 seconds to pull out the Stars win. The Stars hit 20-30 from the line. Peterson told the Saint John Telegraph-Journal that the critical trey made it “very exciting. And just what my coach made me practice all season. When it came down to it, I made it.” Clark said “I’ve never been so scared in my life, to be honest. After being up 20 points, I just couldn’t imagine losing. We had won it two years in a row and I didn’t want to know the feeling of losing.” Stars coach Darrell Turnbull said “oh, sweet three-peat. Any time you come here and play a team that’s as well coached as that, with the kind of athletes they have, you know you’re in for a game right from the star. They never give up. There’s tremendous sportsmanship on the floor and it’s nice to be able to come out of here on the top side of that. … We knew we were in for a game and when we went up by 20 at the half, I told the kids in the locker room this game is not over and they proved us right. It wasn’t over. Woodstock came back. WE had trouble handling their press. I kind of questioned our heart a little bit and I think that angered some of them and going down the stretch, it was the heart that won it for us.” MacMillan led the Wildcats with 17. McCue added 15, Higgs 12 and Harris 10, while nabbing 12 boards. The Wildcats hit 18-30 from the line. Wildcats coach Dave Daye said “to Carleton North’s credit, they kept coming at us. They did what they were supposed to do. They got us a real hole. … (The kids) raised their intensity level and that’s got to be the gutsiest second half performance I’ve had from a team in a long, long time and if you are ever going to do it, the Aitken Centre’s the place to do it. Carleton North played well. They did what they had to do and they did it early. We responded all right in the first 10 minutes but the pressure finally came through for them.”
The co-bronze medalist Hampton Huskies: Nancy MacKenzie; Beckie Morrison;
The co-bronze medalist Campbellton Sugarloaf Bruins: Fausta Charlong;
The silver medalist Woodstock Wildcats: Jamie McCue; Sharolyn Higgs; Emily MacMillan; Samantha Harris; coach David Daye;
The champion Lawrenceville-Bristol Carleton North Stars: Melanie Clark; Jill DeMerchant; Janelle McIntosh; Ginelle Martin; Amanda Peterson; Amanda Tompkins; Eryn Turnbull; Nalancie Oakes; Jamie Fisher; Melissa Williams; Buddie Bushby; Tori Jobin; Miranda Williams; coach Darrell Turnbull; manager Christy DeMerchant; manager Debbie Lamont; manager Paul DeMerchant