In the opening round, held in Whitby: …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Hamilton St. Mary’s Crusaders defeated the Pickering Pine Ridge Pumas 60-21 as Julia Critchley scored 21. Angela Musceo led Pine Ridge with 6. …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Glebe Gryphons defeated the Brampton Chinguacousy Chiefs 38-30 as Sara Hrehoriak scored 16. Trisha Sandhu led Chinguacousy with 15. The Gryphons overcame uncharacteristic poor shooting, including a 12-of-27 effort from the line, coach Murray Shoup told the Ottawa Citizen that he was pleased with Glebe’s defence. “We’ll take a win any way we can get it.” …………………………………………………… The unseeded Toronto Jarvis Bulldogs stunned the 3rd-seeded Hamilton Westdale Warriors 51-50 as Angie Knoebelreiter scored 20 and Joanne Him 10. Justine Panavas and Marie Warner each scored 13 for Westdale. Joanne Him, a 5-5 guard, scored a three-point bucket in the closing seconds as the Bulldogs pulled off the upset. “We won, we won, it’s the biggest win for us,” the 17-year-old Him told the Toronto Star. “They were concentrating on our big players, I was open for the shot and Angie (Knoebelreiter) had a great pass to me.” With Westdale rebounding from a 13-point deficit at one time, Justine Panavas missed an insurance basket with the Warriors up 50-48. Jarvis grabbed the rebound and Knoebelreiter set up Him for her winning 20-footer. “We played well, stuck to the game strategy of run, run, run and also got some great defence,” said Jarvis coach Bob Clarke. …………………………………………………… The 8th-seeded London South Lions defeated the Etobicoke CI Rams 52-39 as Ashly Watt scored 24. Bojana Savic led Etobicoke with 14. …………………………………………………… The 9th-seeded Lindsay I.E. Weldon Wildcats defeated the 10th-seeded Mississauga St. Francis Xavier Tigers 42-41 as Emily Vanhoof scored 22. Denee Burgess led St. Francis Xavier with 13. …………………………………………………… The 7th-seeded Kitchener Grand River Renegades defeated the Barrie Innisdale Invaders 43-35 as Chelsea Aubry scored 22. Nicole Lindras and Kristin McBride each noted 8 for Innisdale. …………………………………………………… The 4th-seeded Waterloo CI Vikings thrashed the Etobicoke Michael Power-St. Joseph Trojans 66-43 as Ashley MacSporran scored 25. Kerrie Jones led Michael Power with 15. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Whitby Father Leo Austin Wildcats pummelled the Aurora Golden Eagles 76-26 as Kim Gibbs scored 22 and Kelly Lafontaine 22. Melanie Henry led Aurora with 14. …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded Sarnia St. Christopher Cyclones defeated the Markham Father Michael McGivney Majic 66-40 as Lindsay DeGroot scored 17. Kimberly Lee led McGivney with 14.
In the second round: …………………………………………………… The 3rd-seeded Hamilton Westdale Warriors dumped the Brampton Chinguacousy Chiefs as Marie Warner scored 19. Tamara Tatham led Chinguacousy with 26. …………………………………………………… The Etobicoke Michael Power-St. Joseph Trojans defeated the Aurora Golden Eagles 49-25 as Amy D’ornellas scored 14. Melanie Henry led the Golden Eagles with 7. …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Ottawa Glebe Gryphons defeated the Pickering Pine Ridge Pumas 59-32 as Kadie Riverin scored 15, Jessica Poupore 14, Sara Hrehoriak 13 and Marian Hussein 12. Alisa Wulff led Pine Ridge with 18. The Pumas also included Angela Musceo. “We played really good defence. We pressured the ball really well, stole a couple and got out fastbreak going,” Riverin told the Ottawa Citizen. …………………………………………………… The Toronto Jarvis Bulldogs defeated the Etobicoke CI Rams 51-30 as Feleshia Watson scored 11. Bojana Savic led Etobicoke with 9. The Rams (coached by Paul Pearson, assisted by Bruce lee and Elanna Robson) also included Sarah Lanford, Sam Wood, Sabrina Padewski, Ashley Patterson, Sandy Tahirovic, Sarah Penman, Nickie Schutz, Andrea Hellyer, Cortney Fuller and Joanne Murdoch. …………………………………………………… The 7th-seeded Kitchener Grand River Renegades nipped the Lindsay I.E. Weldon Wildcats 34-33 as Chelsea Aubry scored 16. Emily Vanhoof led I.E. Weldon with 11. …………………………………………………… The 10th-seeded Mississauga St. Francis Xavier defeated the 8th-seeded London South Lions 58-47 as Denee Burgess scored 13. Ashly Watt led London South with 19. …………………………………………………… The 4th-seeded Waterloo CI Vikings defeated the Barrie Innisdale Invaders 52-25 as Laura Taylor scored 18. Julia Stokes led Innisdale with 7. ………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Whitby Father Leo Austin Wildcats thrashed the Markham Father Michael McGivney Majic 77-39 as Kelly LaFontaine scored 30. Aderonke Daramola and Reem Rekieh led McGivney with 11 apiece.
In the third round: …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded Sarnia St. Christopher Cyclones dumped the Etobicoke Michael Power-St. Joseph Trojans 54-37 as Lindsay DeGroot, Chiara Rocca and Erin Chamberlain each scored 12. Kerri James led Michael Power (coached by Paul McGrath) with 24. …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Hamilton St. Mary’s Crusaders defeated the 3rd-seeded Hamilton Westdale Warriors 56-24 as Julia Critchley and Jessica Selinger each scored 11. Marie Warner led the Warriors with 9. The Warriors also included Justine Panavas. “I was hoping our kids came ready to play and it wouldn’t be us (being eliminated),” Crusaders coach Rich Wesolowski told the Hamilton Spectator. Wesolowski said familiarity was an obstacle. “That’s what makes it a scarier game, especially playing them that early. These games are tough, like against (Bishop Ryan) last year, because they weren’t psyched out to play us at all.” The Crusaders led 21-12 at the half. Jessica Selinger said “we were so excited to come out hard and we were so pumped for that game. We knew we could do that.” Selinger added that playing Westdale “got us really focused. We had a tough game and we know we can get overcome that and really take on everyone now.” Warriors coach Amos Connolly said “our kids showed up here ready to play, no question about that, but they’re not painting their season with the brush of this tournament. It’s hard to play against your rival and lose in the manner that we did and then find it inside you to continue to play. It’s going to be a test of our character now. It’s been an emotional two days and we’ll see what we can do now (in the consolation round). … I think that’s probably the best St. Mary’s team I’ve seen in eight years. Their kids are awesome. They’re fast, play great and can obviously defend better than any team I’ve seen.”
In the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Hamilton St. Mary’s Crusaders defeated 10th-seeded Mississauga St. Francis Xavier Tigers 50-34 as Julia Critchley scored 12 and Jessie Lamparski 10. Brianna Rutty led Xavier with 14. The Crusaders scored 29 in the first quarter and led 41-2 at the half. “We came out really strong in the beginning and our press was hard on them,” Crusaders coach Rich Wesolowski told the Hamilton Spectator.
The 4th-seeded Waterloo CI Vikings defeated the 5th-seeded Whitby Father Leo Austin Wildcats 65-48 as Ashley MacSporran scored 28. Kim Gibbs led Father Leo Austin with 15.
The Toronto Jarvis Bulldogs nipped the 6th-seeded Ottawa Glebe Gryphons 57-55 as Kiyomi McCloskey scored 14. Sara Hrehoriak led Glebe with 22. The Gryphons relinquished a 19-0 second-half run and collapsed down the stretch. “We got beat on the offensive boards,” said Gryphons coach Murray Shoup told the Ottawa Citizen. The Bulldogs got a clutch basket from Kiyomi McCloskey with 37 seconds remaining to pull out the win. The Gryphons led 32-26 at halftime but Joanne Him sank a trio of treys in a span of 1:31 to ignite the decisive 19-0 run. Glebe’s Sara Hrehoriak countered with her own trio of treys. That turned the game into a nail-biter until McCloskey, who scored 14, hit the winner. “This is another huge win for us and we’re getting to like it,” McCloskey told the Toronto Star. “I was hanging around the baseline, got the ball and knew this was a basket I couldn’t miss.” Feleshia Watson added 12 for Jarvis, while Joanne Him scored 11, Angie Knoebelreiter 9 and Alyssa McIntyre-Clutterbuck 9. “This is a tough team with a lack of size but when my 5-foot-5 forward curls in and shoots with three people in her face and sinks it with less than a minute, that is quite remarkable,” said Jarvis coach Bob Clarke. “But then, so was the three-point shooting of (Him).” The Gryphons (coached by Shoup, assisted by Lisa Bergin and Carol Rosenthall) also included Meghan Kane, Keren Lynch, Catherine Newry, Emily Pelton, Marian Hussein, Kadie Riverin, Katie Kurys and Jessica Poupore.
In the last quarterfinal, the 2nd-seeded Sarnia St. Christopher Cyclones defeated the 7th-seeded Kitchener Grand River Renegades 51-21 as Chiara Rocca scored 18. Chelsea Aubry led Grand River with 7.
In the semis, the Sarnia St. Christopher Cyclones thrashed the Toronto Jarvis Bulldogs 66-24 as Jodie Colebrook scored 13. Angie Knoebelreiter led Jarvis with 9.
In the other semi, the Hamilton St. Mary’s Crusaders dumped the 4th-seeded Waterloo CI Vikings 56-37 as Jessica Selinger scored 16, including four treys. Cari Te Boekhorst added 8. Laura Taylor led Waterloo with 15. The Crusaders led 32-20 at the half.
In the bronze medal match, the 4th-seeded Waterloo CI Vikings defeated the Toronto Jarvis Bulldogs 50-40 as Ashley MacSporran scored 20 and Laura Taylor 12 and Corrie Leffering 8. The Vikings finished (35-6) on the campaign. Feleshia Watson paced the Bulldogs with 11. Angie Knoebelreiter added 10. “It’s hard to leave your last high school game on a stretcher,” MacSporran, who suffered a concussion with two minutes to play when she was kneed in the head in a scramble for the ball, told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record. MacSporran was knocked cold and after a 20-minute delay, was taken to hospital. “I don’t even remember falling to the ground. When I woke up (on the court), my mom (Nancy) said the first thing I said was ‘how much time’s left and what are we up?” Vikings coach Doug Ranton said his troops “responded well (to the adversity).” Having lost point guard Laura Strauss to graduation, “this year we all had to be able to play different positions; it was more of a team effort, so it’s very satisfying.”
In the final, the top-seeded Hamilton St. Mary’s Crusaders defeated the 2nd-seeded Sarnia St. Christopher Cyclones 50-36 as Cari Te Boekhorst scored 12 and Rachel Hart 11. Chiara Rocca led the Cyclones with 11. The Crusaders registered their 43rd consecutive win as they coasted to the title with their fourth win of the season over the (43-4) Cyclones. The Crusaders dominated the boards and their in-your-face defence forced a raft of turnovers. The Cyclones’ only lead came on the opening basket by Jodie Colebrook but Cari te Boekhorst and Rachel Hart soon got the tempo in the Crusaders favour. “Last time we played them, we didn’t have that intense pressure, so we wanted to make sure we took care of their inside game,” Crusaders coach Rich Wesolowski told the Toronto Star. “They hit some foul trouble late in the game and we knew we were in control by then.” Cyclones coach Ed Dragan noted that “they shot really well and we hit foul trouble; put those together and we were getting hit hard.” Te Boekhorst, who had a pair of three-point buckets in the second quarter, attributed the victory to the Crusaders doing their homework. “We knew their players, we knew what we had to do to win and it was just a matter of executing. Still, there’s nothing like winning a gold medal.” Wesolowski told the Hamilton Spectator that “I had a sense at the end of the first quarter and beginning of the second that the kids weren’t going to let this one go. We had too many seniors coming back and we had too much experience. With the loss last year (to Bishop Ryan in the final), they weren’t going to lose this one. They were going to do anything they had to do to win.” The Crusaders led 16-15, 28-18 and 36-22 at the quarters. “Basketball is a funny game in that sometimes you think you’re ready to play at times, but you’re not,” said Wesolowski. “Last year, I thought we were ready and playing really well, and we meet a team more determined than us.” Guard Jessie Lamparski said “this medal is my best ever one. We had a tough ride here. With Westdale losing early, they made it tough for us having to play the number three team early. We had an undefeated season, so we can’t complain.” Te Boekhorst said the key was intensity. “On defence, we really picked it up and on offence, we really controlled. They were kind of jittery, but we played at our pace and played our game. We forced people to go to their left hands and played good denial.”
The bronze medalist Waterloo Collegiate Vikings: Ashley MacSporran; Laura Taylor; Lisa Devenny; Lindsay Kurt; Corrie Leffering; Andrea Durst; coach Doug Ranton
The silver medalist Sarnia St. Christopher Cyclones: Lindsay DeGroot; Chiara Rocca; Erin Chamberlain; Jodie Colebrook; coach Ed Dragan
The gold medalist Hamilton St. Mary’s Crusaders: Renne Radoja; Jessie Lamparski; Jasmine Kisic; Rachel Hart; Cari te Boekhorst; Heather Angus; Amanda Tofano; Julia Critchley; Andrea Benvenuto; Julia Finlay; Stacy Kisil; Jessica Selinger; coach Rich Wesolowski