In the quarterfinals, the Plaster Rock Tobique Valley Panthers (2nd, southwest) stomped the Belleisle Regional Bears (3rd, southeast) 87-52. The Bears included Vanessa Duffley.
The Rothesay Netherwood Riverhawks (4th, southwest) stunned the Stanley Blue Devils (1st, northeast) 77-71. The Blue Devils included Shannon MacFarlane, Alison Bartlett, Lacee Thomas.
The Grand Manan Community Breakers (3rd, southwest) dumped the Hillsborough Caledonia Regional Tigers 58-55 in overtime. Jessica Brown led the Breakers with 19 points. Shelrae Dexter added 11, Whitney Clinch 9 and Kim Wilson 9. The Tigers received 21 from Emma Keiver, 14 from Casey Duffy and 13 from Hillary Hopper. Grand Manan led 36-18 at halftime and the teams were tied 49-49 at the end of regulation play.
In the last quarterfinal, the Fredericton Devon Park Christian Eagles (1st, southwest) whipped the Rexton Bonar Law Memorial Bengals 67-37. Brittany Gilliss paced the Eagles with 41. Leandra Upton added 10 and Alyssa Harrington 8. Schyler Campbell led the Bengals with 16. Taylor Hannay added 8. Devon Park led 28-23 at the half. The Bengals also included Shelby Warman.
In the semis, the Plaster Rock Tobique Valley Panthers whipped the Rothesay Netherwood Riverhawks 94-64. Hillary Goodine had 30 points to lead the Panthers. Melissa Ouellette added 24 and Chelsey Cooper 22. Anna Simonds had 25 points to lead Rothesay Netherwood.
In the other semi, the Fredericton Devon Park Christian Eagles crushed the Grand Manan Community Breakers 75-55. Brittany Gilliss led Devon Park with 41 points while Alyssa Harrington added 16 and Maggie Bishop 12. Jessica Brown paced the Breakers with 22. Kim Wilson added 19. The teams were tied 30-30 at the half.
In the final, the Plaster Rock Tobique Valley Panthers defeated the Fredericton Devon Park Christian Eagles 69-61. Panthers player of the game Hilary Goodine scored 24 and nabbed 23 rebounds while Melissa Ouellette collected 22 points and 20 rebounds. Forward Brittany Gilliss led the Eagles with 22 points and 12 rebounds while Maggie Bishop added 16 points and 12 rebounds. The Panthers, who had lost all four head-to-head meetings between the teams in the regular season, came through when it counted most. “Oh my God, I was teary-eyed when I got fouled out,” said Ouellette, the five-foot-eleven Grade 11 post. “It was so crazy.” Eagles player of the game Alyssa Harrington was disappointed. “We beat them four times and we knew this would be the hardest time to beat them,” said the Grade 12 guard, who came away with 14 points, seven rebounds and two assists. We just came out a little flat. I don’t think they did anything differently. I think we just tried to switch things up. We knew it would be a tough game.” The Eagles shot just 22 per cent from the floor in the first half, dropping just eight of 36 attempts from the floor. They were marginally better in the second half, but, overall, they hit just 25.9 per cent from the floor for the game. Still, after trailing 39-24 at the half and down 56-35 after three quarters, they closed to within four points, trailing 61-57, with a little more than two minutes on the clock. But first Goodine and then Chelsey Cooper came down the floor and knocked down consecutive field goals to give the Panthers breathing room. “Words can’t describe it, it’s so awesome,” said the teary Ouellette. “I wanted to win this so bad. Just to win it is amazing. Our motto was ‘One Time.’ That’s all we had to beat them was one time. And we did it!” Goodine said “we only had to beat them one time, and we were ready.” Eagles coach Roger Harrington said “I think they realized, finally, that they’re bigger than us, and if they pound it inside, they increase their chances of scoring. They kept it up high and our girls couldn’t get to it.” Forward Brittany Gilliss scored 22 points and nabbed 12 boards for the Eagles but Harrington said “we just didn’t get it to her. It was more that we didn’t get it to her than anything they really did.” Gilliss said “I’m going to be honest, it’s our own fault that we lost. We played like crap in the first three quarters and thought we could win it in the fourth, and that doesn’t cut it. It was everything combined. Everyone was nervous. We weren’t playing as a team, we were making stupid turnovers, we weren’t finishing anything. It just didn’t play out the way we wanted it to.” Maggie Bishop, who scored 16 and nabbed 12 boards for the Eagles, said “it’s disappointing. We went into this expecting to win. We had an amazing season. They deserve it. They had a great game. We didn’t. I’m proud of all the girls. We did the best we could.” Coach Harrington said “we were just excited to be here at all in actuality. At the beginning of the season, we didn’t really know what to expect. So this is a really good finish for us. When I came into the school year, I expected our team to do well. But this kind of blew me away to know that our team could get this far.”
The co-bronze medalist Grand Manan Community Breakers: Jessica Brown; Kim Wilson; Shelrae Dexter; Whitney Clinch; Josie Brown;
The co-bronze medalist Rothesay Netherwood Riverhawks: Anna Simonds; Gaelyn McMackin; Taylor Cooper;
The silver medalist Fredericton Devon Park Christian Eagles: Brittany Gilliss; Leandra Upton; Maggie Bishop; Alyssa Harrington; coach Roger Harrington
The champion Plaster Rock Tobique Valley Panthers: Hilary Goodine; Melissa Ouellette; Chelsey Cooper;