In the Regina city quarterfinals: …………………………………………………… The Dr. Martin LeBoldus Golden Suns clipped the Balfour Redmen 51-40. The Redmen (coached by Wendy Bileski) included Tracey Hepworth, Erica Stangler, Lisa Benning. …………………………………………………… The Sheldon-Williams Spartans clipped the Marian Saints 70-61. The Saints included Corri Stepan, Bonnie Montieth, Pam Cook, Leslie Angielski. …………………………………………………… The Archbishop M.C. O’Neill Titans dumped the Miller Marauders 69-52. The Marauders included Carey Izsak, Chris Plessl. …………………………………………………… In the last quarterfinal, the Thom Trojans bombed the Martin Monarchs 66-42. The Monarchs included Rhonda Mearns, Lisa Powell. …………………………………………………… In the semis, the Sheldon-Williams Spartans stunned the Dr. Martin Leboldus Golden Suns 66-63 in overtime. The Spartans broke to a 10-0 lead but trailed 50-38 with 10 minutes to play when their man-to-man defence started yielding dividends. Lori Wahl scored 9 during an 8-minute stretch as Sheldon-Williams took its first lead at 55-54. Donna Makniak knotted the score at 57 with seven seconds to play by hitting 1-2 from the line. Kelley Borger hit 2 long bombs in overtime as the Spartans took a 61-57 lead. Borger added a bucket and 2 free throws as Sheldon-Williams held on for the win. Spartans coach Wilma Dowling told the Regina Leader-Post that “I’m really pleased. They worked hard to do it. They sure wanted it, I’ll tell you.” Borger said “I haven’t been making (that outside shot) lately. It felt good. It felt great.” Lori Wahl said “I thought we had it (in regulation). Then Kelle just came out and started popping them. And then I thought: we’ve got em.” LeBoldus coach Darlene Schmidt said “we had control. But they played well. Both teams played well. They just got the shots and we didn’t. We figured it would be a close game and it could have gone either way.” Jodi Stewart led the Spartans with 22. Lori Wahl added 15 and Kelley Borger 12. Rachel Tchorzewski led the Golden Suns with 20. Dawn Holzer added 14, Donna MacKnick 13 and Susie Rizak 10. …………………………………………………… In the other semi, the Thom Trojans dispatched the Archibishop M.C. O’Neill Titans 49-47 as Jackie Moore scored 29. Moore hit 11 free throws in the first half as Thom gained the lead and never again trailed.” Moore told the Regina Leader-Post that “what really helped us in the first half was their fouling. But we had to work hard. We knew it was going to be tough.” The Titans rallied to within 49-47 with 1:26 to play but turned over the ball on their next two possessions. Titans coach Jim Gallagher said Moore was too much for his troops to handle, even with a diamond-and-one defence. “When a team scores 43, and one girl gets 30 (29) of them … We kept her from getting the ball for a while but she’s very tough. I’ve never had a team respond like this before. They came a long way and missed it by inches.” Karen Beitel led the Titans with 12. Karen Tolcarz added 11 and Leanne Labbie 10. The Titans include Rhonda Wszolek, Karen Beitel, Barb Barnes, Carla Harder, Rhonda Wardell. …………………………………………………… In the final, the Sheldon-Williams Spartans nipped the Thom Trojans 55-54 in overtime. Spartan guard Lori Wahl forced overtime with a jumper with two seconds to play. Jodi Stewart paced the Spartans with 16. Lori Wahl added 11. Jackie Moore led the Trojans with 25. Wahl told the Regina Leader-Post that “I just wanted to shoot before the buzzer. I have trouble believing the shot went int. To be honest, I thought it was Thom’s game. It could have gone either way. … In the overtime, coach (Wilma Dowling) told us there’s only 5 minutes left, so don’t foul, and take good shots. We had to play cool and watch the clock.” The Spartans took a 55-50 lead before Moore and Bonnie Will hit buckets to trim the margin. The Spartans led 25-22 at the half. The Trojans led 43-31 in the second half but the Spartans exploded for 12 unanswered to knot the score as Wahl scored 8 and Kelley Borger 4. Wahl said “we have a habit of being ahead at the half and then losing by 20 points and that’s what happened. Thom came out wanting it more than we did. We thought we better get moving because if they got too far ahead, chances were slim for us.”
In the Saskatoon city quarterfinals: …………………………………………………… The 3rd-seeded Aden Bowman Bears clipped the 6th-seeded Evan Hardy Souls 58-48 as Annette Constabal scored 18. The Souls included Monique Knippel, Carla Laughland, Wendy Hall. …………………………………………………… In the other quarterfinal, the 4th-seeded Marion Graham Falcons defeated the 5th-seeded Walter Murray Marauders x-x. The Marauders included Margot Murray, Christine Klassen, Kelly Rempel. …………………………………………………… In the semis, the top-seeded Holy Cross Crusaders clubbed the 4th-seeded Marion Graham Falcons 67-41 as Erica Pasmeny scored 18. Tracy McLellan led the Falcons with 41. The Falcons also included Elan Ballantine, Kathy McEdward, Carol Mclellan. …………………………………………………… In the other semi, the 2nd-seeded Mount Royal Mustangs edged the 3rd-seeded Aden Bowman Bears 57-55 as Laureane Hood scored 13 and Carrie Lang 12. Annette Constable paced the Bears with 25. The Bears also included Annette Spafford, Audrey Doucette, Debbie Davies. The score was knotted at 53 down the stretch but the Bears let the game slip away. Bears coach Layra Farmer told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix “it seems we just panicked. Maybe it was too big a spread (10 points in the second half) to come back from.” …………………………………………………… In the final, the 2nd-seeded Mount Royal Mustangs topped the top-seeded Holy Cross Crusaders 48-37 as Carrie Lange scored 21 and Laurene Head 12. The Mustangs took command with a 21-2 run in the second quarter. Mustangs coach Irene Wallace told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix that “the kids in the front court did a good job with the press, which gave our big girls in the backcourt a chance to rest.” Erica Pasmeny led the Crusaders with 14. Sharon Moroz added 11. Crusaders coach Heather Witzel said “nobody had held us to 37 points all year. We stood still on offence. We didn’t have a good inside attack and consequently, we didn’t get a good outside attack either.”
In the provincial semis, the Saskatoon Holy Cross Crusaders pounded the Regina Sheldon-Williams Spartans 81-54, after leading 44-25 at the half and by as many as 34. Erica Pasmeny paced the Crusaders with 18. Laurie Leier added 15, Carmen Biko 14 and Sharon Moroz 12 Jodi Stewart led the Spartans with 16. Lori Wahl added 10. Crusaders coach Heather Wetzel told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix that the “grade 12 students (Leier, Moroz and Biko) on our club played well. When your leaders take control, the rest of the team follow suit.” Wetzel told the Regina Leader-Post that “in the last 10 minutes, I thought Sheldon was worn out and we controlled the boards. Rebounding got us rolling at the start of the game and we had our inside game going.” Spartans coach Wilma Dowling “they were just better than we were and looked more experienced. They had both height and size. We tried to run them. I thought we were in better shape but Holy Cross had lots of bench strength.” Dowling told the Star-Phoenix that “their height hurt us. It took away our inside game. Inside shooting is a lot surer than outside shooting.” Witzel said “we moved the ball quite effectively. It’s pretty hard to defend man-to-man when you get the kind of movement we had tonight.”
In the other semi, the Saskatoon Mount Royal Mustangs dusted the Regina Thom Trojans 66-51 after leading 30-29 at the half. Carrie Lang led the Mustangs with 24. Mustangs coach Irene Wallace told the Regina Leader-Post that “we’ve been seven years without not being in the playoffs. The girls were nervous and hesitating. The team was overly nervous and overly-psyched. It’s not that they were physically tired but emotionally petered out. They calmed down and players with a little more composure in the second half.” Wallace told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix that “the kids were nervous and hesitating on their playmaking. They were just being too afraid to making that big mistake in the semi-finals.” Jackie Moore led the Trojans with 24. Trojans coach Rita Nau told the Leader-Post that “I’m not sure what started to happen in the second half. We played tight in the first half, maybe even over our heads – that’ll happen when you’re not concentrating on the other team’s height. Then we started making mistakes, got upset at ourselves and lost momentum. When our big girl (Jackie Moore) got in foul trouble, it took the wind out of our sails. Without her, the other girls lost composure.” Nau told the Star-Phoenix that “we were playing above our heads in the first half. When we weren’t concentrating on their height, we played well. In the second half, we started thinking about their height. We made some mistakes, got upset and lost our poise.”
In the bronze medal match, the Regina Thom Trojans clipped the Regina Sheldon-Williams Spartans 83-71 as Jackie Moore scored 39. Jodi Stewart led the Spartans with 26. Lori Wahl added 24. The Spartans also included Lisa Mitchell, Kelly Borger.
In the provincial final, the Saskatoon Mount Royal Mustangs edged the Saskatoon Holy Cross Crusaders 49-46 as Carrie Lange scored 13, Deanna Bakker 11 and Sherry Antonishen 6. The Mustangs closed it out with a 15-2 run. They took their first lead on a bucket by Sherry Antonishen with three minutes to play. Antonishen later iced it with a free throw. Antonishen told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix that “I feel euphoric. I’ve been waiting a long time for this. We couldn’t let this game get away from us. We worked so hard to come back that we decided to give it all we had. We had nothing to lose.” Lange said “I was scared when we got down by 10 points. I was just praying that our team wouldn’t give up becaue I knew Holy Cross wouldn’t.” The score was knotted at 25 at the half but the Crusaders notched a 4-0 run out of the break and then expanded the lead to 40-30. Erica Pasmeny paced the Crusaders with 16. Laurie Leier added 10. Crusaders coach Heather Witzel said “we continued to take the same shots we’d taken all game but all of a sudden, they weren’t dropping. … We were so close to getting it. I really feel sorry for our girls.”
The bronze medalist Regina Thom Trojans: Jackie Moore; Bonnie Will; Darla Williams; Tracey Wowchuk; Kelly Craig; Janine Welk; coach Rita Nau
The silver medalist Saskatoon Holy Cross Crusaders: Erica Pasmeny; Laurie Leier; Carmen Biko; Sharon Moroz; Tanis Henderson; Jeanine Pinell; coach Heather Witzel
The gold medalist Saskatoon Mount Royal Mustangs: Carrie Lange; Deanna Bakker; Sherry Antonishen; Kim Klassen; Michelle Green; Karen Dahlseide; Laurene Hood; Janet Souster; coach Irene Wallace