In the quarterfinals, the 7th-seeded Halifax Grammar Gryphons stunned the host and 2nd-seeded Greenwich Horton Griffins 71-56 as Brianna Orr scored 36. “She had a monster game,” said Grammar coach Kathy Spurr. “She was in a real zone. We’ve been waiting for the players to play like this for a while and tonight they did.” Orr nailed four treys as she scored 23 in the first half. “I took shots when I was open but I didn’t want to be too greedy,” Orr said. “This was just a great team effort from everyone. There isn’t a single person on our team who didn’t play well. There were fans banging on pans and drums and making all kinds of noise the whole game but it was lots of fun. We loved the crowd.” The Griffins were severely hampered when star center Jana Spindler was sidelined by ankle injury in the first minute.
The 3rd-seeded Halifax Queen Elizabeth Lions dumped the 6th-seed Dartmouth Prince Andrew Panthers 78-51. The Panthers included Katie Jennings, Sheryl Chisholm. (The Halifax Chronicle-Herald reported the quarterfinalist as J.H. Gillis).
The top-seeded Sydney Academy Wildcats clipped the 8th-seeded Halifax St. Patrick’s Fighting Irish 63-50. The Irish included Alise Brown, Kristen Fitzpatrick.
In the last quarterfinal, the 4th-seeded Glace Bay Panthers dumped the 5th-seeded Truro Cobequid Educational Centre Cougars 60-49. The Cougars (coached by Mike MacKay) included Vicki Reid, Lee-Anne Crossman, Katie Harpman, Kristin Fielding, Katherine Murphy, Alisha Julien, Dianda Phipps, Jessica Mitchell, Madie Spacek, Pamela Tiller, Katherine Kanaski, Tracey Weatherbee, Heather Potier, Jenny Kanaski, Katie Atkinson and Catherine Cox.
In the semis, the Halifax Grammar Gryphons defeated the defending champ Halifax Queen Elizabeth Lions 51-44 as Brianna Orr scored 16, Kyla Magnus 13 and Amanda Northcott 12. The Gryphons had three to the Lions during the regular season. Katie Brophy led Queen Elizabeth with 11. “We shot poorly today but they made us shoot poorly,” Lions coach Stephen Stewart told the Halifax Daily News. “We averaged 68 ppg before tonight. Their defence played awesome. The girls are not very pleased. We’re used to playing (in the final) at three o’clock on Saturday but full credit to Grammar. They outplayed us.” Gryphons coach Kathy Spurr told the Halifax Chronicle-Herald that beating the Lions was “a huge honour. The girls played with emotion and intensity and took them off their game.” Stewart said the Lions streak of provincial titles was “a long run. And the longer the run got, the harder it is to accept that it’s over. But our kids had their day in the sun, now it’s their turn.” The Lions (coached by Stephen Stewart) included Katie Brophy, Laura Thibault, Jennifer Bray, Stephanie Redding, April Scott, Leslie Stewart, Teresa Morrison, Kelsey Redding, Laura Thibault.
In the other semi, the top-seeded Sydney Academy Wildcats pummeled the Glace Bay Panthers 62-34 as Carla MacNeil scored 14 and Jenna Chisholm 10. Jessica Bruckschwaiger scored for the Panthers, who trailed 34-21 at the break.
“(Thursday) night when we were down eight at the half, that was our test,” Wildcats coach Greg Callaghan told the Cape Breton Post. “I told them every team that goes through a tournament like this has a test. That was it and we came back and had a helluva second half. I knew today we wouldn’t make the same mistake as last night. We played 40 minutes of intense defence and basically, they just couldn’t score and we frustrated them. It was a great effort.”
In the bronze medal match, the Glace Bay Panthers v. the Halifax Queen Elizabeth Lions.
In the final, the top-seeded Sydney Academy Wildcats defeated the 7th-seeded Halifax Grammar Gryphons 50-40 to earn the school its first title since 1968. Carla McNeil and Kaitlyn Taylor each notched 12 to pace the Wildcats. Tamara Alleyne added 7, Jenna Chisholm 6 and Angela Fifield 6. Dara Young led Grammar with 12. Kyla Magnus added 11 and Brianna Orr 5. “I knew going into the season we had the potential to win the title. We had a good core of players coming back so we figured we’d have a shot,” Wildcats coach Greg Callaghan told the Cape Breton Post. “But when the final buzzer sounded it was kind of surreal. I couldn’t believe we had just won the provincial title. Could it really be us that broke this 34-year drought when it came to provincial basketball titles at Sydney Academy? It was quite a moment.” The Wildcats finished 37-4 on the campaign, winning their last 19 games. Carla McNeil said “it was just an amazing feeling. We went to the provincials saying it was a business trip and we accomplished what we went to do.” Callaghan said “what won it for us this weekend was our defence. We had some droughts offensively, but our team defence was amazing. … One of the girls on our team who doesn’t get a lot of praise because she’s not a high scorer very often is Tamara Alleyne. But she is probably the best defensive player in the province. She held this Orr kid to five points after she had 36 two nights before (Thursday) and she led them against QEH (Friday) with 16 points. Tamara doesn’t worry about stats, she just wants to shut her opponent down. She did a heck of a job stopping Orr. … Our school has not been known as a basketball school for a lot of years. When we took the program over way back when it wasn’t even competitive in the league let alone a contender for a provincial. So for it to culminate with a provincial title 11 years later and to be part of the team that hangs a provincial basketball banner up in our gym for the first time in over 30 years is something these girls will remember for the rest of their lives.” MacNeil said “we were cutting down the mesh after the game and our manager Shirley Samson, who used to be our assistant coach, made one of the cuts. She was in Grade 12 when the team last won in 1968 so that was a special moment.”
The bronze medalist x:
The silver medalist Halifax Grammar Gryphons: Brianna Orr; Kyla Magnus; Amanda Northcott; Leanne Huck; Shelly Burton; Meghan Sullivan; Katie Radchuck; Alyson Wood; Dara Young; Laura Johnstone; Margaret Sheridan; Leanne Huck; coach Kathy Spurr; assistant Ms. Meehan
The gold medalist Sydney Academy Wildcats: Kaitlyn Taylor; Heather Farmer; Angela Fifield; Jenna Chisholm; Ashley MacKinnon; Carla MacNeil; Tamara Alleyne; Melissa Berger; Ashley Drohan; Aimee McGillivary; Paula Pickup; Sarah Rudderham; coach Greg Callaghan; assistant Paula Pace; assistant Henry Boutilier; manager Ashley Heffernan