In the opening round, held in Walkerton: …………………………………………………… The St. Thomas St. Joseph Rams thrashed Etobicoke Kipling 48-26. …………………………………………………… The St. Clair Beach E.S. L’Essor Eagles clipped the Newcastle Clark Secondary Raiders 50-38 as Nadine Chauvin scored 12, Comeau 11, Cecile 7, Connie Lachapelle 7, Lebert 4, Dana McCullough 4, Labreche 3 and Karen Lachappelle 2. T Riddle paced the Raiders with 13. Vanpoleweerd added 10, Waterfall 6, Fice 3, Van Derveen 2, Eady 2 and M Riddle 2. …………………………………………………… The Chatham CI Cougars torched Oakville Gordon E. Perdue (now St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic) Raiders 81-9. …………………………………………………… The Walkerton Sacred Heart Crusaders dusted Sturgeon Falls Franco-Cite 64-28. …………………………………………………… The Parkhill North Middlesex Marauders whipped the Rockcliffe Ashbury Colts 59-31. …………………………………………………… The St. Thomas St. Joseph’s Rams spanked the Etobicoke Kipling Wildcats 48-26. …………………………………………………… The Van Kleek Hill Collegiate Rebels crushed the Gravenhurst Gryphons 64-43. …………………………………………………… Ecole Secondaire Cochrane edged Arthur 38-33. …………………………………………………… The Niagara-on-the-Lake Niagara District Trojans clubbed the Wawa Michipicoten Vikings 61-11.
In the second round: …………………………………………………… The St. Clair Beach (Tecumseh) E.S. L’Essor Eagles clipped the Rockcliffe Ashbury Colts 49-47. L’Essor built and early 14-point lead but Ashbury rallied to within one with three minutes to play before coach Lucien Gava reinserted his starters and rebuilt an eight-point lead. “He scared us at the end,” said Rachelle Cecile. “It was a little too close but we couldn’t handle them pretty easy.” Cecile led L’Essor with 13. Dana McCullough added 9, Labreche 7, Comeau 5, Connie Lachappelle 4, Chauvin 4, Karen Lachapelle 2 and Girard 2. Jillian Napier led Ashbury with 25. Ann-Marie Baribeau added 12, Lisanne Carruthers 4, Gabriela Hahn 4 and S Levesque 2. The Colts (coached by Andy Sparks, assisted by S Cairns) also included Martha Solomon, Alex Stevens, H Alyea, Barbara Groot, Vicki Taylor, S Niles and M Cuthrie. …………………………………………………… The Walkerton Sacred Heart Crusaders smoked the Oakville Gordon E. Perdue (now St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic) Raiders 85-4. …………………………………………………… The Parkhill North Middlesex Marauders dumped the Newcastle Clarke Secondary Raiders 44-31. …………………………………………………… The St. Thomas St. Joseph’s Rams clubbed the Gravenhurst Gryphons 61-20. …………………………………………………… Ecole Secondaire Cochrane dumped the Wawa Michipicoten Vikings 36-25. …………………………………………………… The Chatham CI Cougars smacked Sturegeon Falls Franco-Cite 63-21. …………………………………………………… The Van Kleek Hill Rebels torched the Etobicoke Kipling Rams 61-29. …………………………………………………… The Niagara-on-the-Lake Niagara District Trojans dusted Arthur 71-44.
In the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Chatham CI Cougars defeated the Tecumseh E.S. L’Essor Aigles 48-36. “It’s frustrating to know we could have beaten them, but we fell apart,” Aigles guard Connie Lachapelle told the Windsor Star. “It’s nice to know we gave them a scare though.” Cougars forward Tiffany Bunning said Chatham was bit over confident after thrashing L’Essor a week earlier in the SWOSSA finals. L’Essor jumped to a 12-5 lead. “They had the spirit going for them and we were frustrated. It just took us a while to get going,” said Bunning. L’Essor extended its margin to 27-18 at the half and led 34-21 midway through the final quarter. But their inexperience seemed to hurt them. “They lost a lot of experience from last year’s team and we have a lot of team leaders,” said Bunning. “Eventually, the team just settled down and said ‘hey, let’s start playing our game’.” That discipline proved the difference as Chatham rallied to within 34-33 after three quarters. They opened the final frame with a 4-0 run. Danielle Comeau countered with a layup for the Aigles but then Chatham closed it out with an 11-0 run. “In a tight game, experience will dominate,” said Bunning. Tara Smith led the Cougars with 11. Bunning and Erin Rotschenk each added 10, Highgate 6, Kelly 6, Babcock 3 and Franssen 2. Dana McCullough led L’Essor with 11. Rachelle Cecile added 8, Connie Lachappelle 6, Danielle Comeau 5, Karen Lachapelle 3 and Nadine Chauvin 2. L’Essor (coached by Lucien Gava) also included Michelle Girard, Jeannine Labreche, Colette Drouillard.
The Walkerton Sacred Heart Crusaders edged the Parkhill North Middlesex Marauders 52-50 in overtime. Crusaders coach Bill King told the Owen Sound Sun Times that “their star centre McAlpin was forced out of the game with an injury with six minutes to go when they had a six-point lead. When that happened, the Parkhill team just seemed to sag and we took over. I had four starters go ou on fouls and the bench came on strong. Plus, the crowd really helped us.”
The St. Thomas St. Joseph’s Rams clubbed Ecole Secondaire Cochrane 52-32.
In the last quarterfinal, the Niagara-on-the-Lake Niagara District Trojans whipped the Van Kleek Hill Rebels 58-43. The Rebels included Vicki Wilson.
In the semis, the St. Thomas St. Joseph’s Rams clipped the Walkerton Sacred Heart Crusaders 45-31. Jayne Weiler led the Crusaders with 10. Paula Rich added 9, Sarah Kieffer 8, Nicole Zeffel 3 and Lori Kraemer 1.
In the other semi, the Niagara-on-the-Lake District Trojans dispatched the Chatham CI Cougars 53-41.
In the bronze medal match, the Chatham CI Cougars edged the Walkerton Sacred Heart Crusaders 48-44. Sarah Kieffer led the Crusaders with 25. Lori Kraemer added 12, Nicole Zeffel 3, Barb Barho 2 and Paula Rich 1. The Crusaders also included Jayne Weiler.
In the final, the St. Thomas St. Joseph’s Rams defeated the Niagara-on-the-Lake Niagara District Trojans 49-45 in overtime to capture their third consecutive title.
The bronze medalist Chatham Collegiate Institute Cougars: Stephanie Highgate, Tara Smith, Tiffany Bunning, Jill Wilcox, Erin Rotschenk; Bunning; Kelly; Babcock; Franssen;
The silver medalist Niagara-on-the-Lake Niagara District Trojans: Sharon Carmichael; Colleen Dineley; Rhonda Taylor; Athena Traven; Anita Kok; Ilona Nagel; Liz MacDougall; Christine Worrell; Allison Walker; coach Don MacDougall; manager Paul Gosse
The gold medalist St. Thomas St. Joseph’s Rams: coach Gary Clarke; assistant Jerry O’Brien