In round robin play: …………………………………………………… The Whitehorse Porter Creek Rams defeated the Whitehorse F.H. Collins Warriors x-x. …………………………………………………… The Whitehorse F.J. Collins Warriors defeated the Whitehorse Vanier Catholic Crusaders x-x. …………………………………………………… The Whitehorse Vanier Catholic Crusaders dispatched the Whitehorse Porter Creek Rams x-x. …………………………………………………… Final standings: Porter Creek (1-1); F.H. Collins (1-1); Vanier (1-1).
In the final, the Whitehorse Porter Creek Rams nipped the Whitehorse F.H. Collins Warriors 61-60 as Megan Lanigan hit two free throws with two seconds to play. “I was pretty scared, I’m not going to lie,” Lanigan told the Yukon News. “First I thought: I can mess up one, and we’ll be tied. But when I got (the first) one, I thought, ‘Let’s just end it here and not draw it out any longer. If I miss, my coach is going to kill me.’” The Rams trailed 50-39 after three quarters but ripped off a 10-0 run as Lanigan had 3 steals and Daria Jordan 1. The pair notched 6 steals apiece. “It’s crazy. The season has been really even for all the teams and for us to come back from such a stretch was really crazy – to win by one point,” said Lanigan. “I’m really proud of my whole team. We were really down on ourselves for a bit. But then we huddled in and said, ‘OK, let’s push through and win this. Senior year: let’s go all the way with it.” Tournament MVP Lanigan scored 15 on 4-8 from the line. Jordan led the Rams with 22. Jordan is “feisty, she’s passionate and she’s very fast,” said Rams coach Kasia Leary. “We were a little nervous when she fouled out at the end, when we had a minute and a half left there. So I was impressed when the other girls could step up.” The Warriors went on a 18-0 run in the third quarter as they took a 50-31 lead. Warriors’ Sam Burgis opened the run before All-Stars Quynh Nguyen and Jay Kelly filled in the rest. Nguyen scored 22 and Kelly 10, along with 8 steals. Nguyen “get that shot off so quickly and she’s so consistent,” said Crane. “And she works her butt off on defence.” Crane said lack of depth her troops. “Our numbers were a factor, for sure. It was a tough, fast game, and they had lots of fresh legs. I think we were definitely feeling it by the end of the game. Porter Creek was playing like they had nothing to lose. We sat back just a bit and they caught us on that. That’s all it takes.” The teams traded the lead repeatedly in the fourth quarter. The Rams took a 57-56 lead with 1:13 remaining in the fourth, but the Warriors moved back in front on a basket by Nicola Lazeo-Fairman with 39 seconds left. Kelly then pilfered the ball to make it 60-57 for the Warriors. Lanigan pilfered the ball for a runout layup to draw the Rams within 60-59. “The girls really had to trust each other, rely on each other, and push hard,” said Leary. “F.H. had a press with six players and at the end I said, ‘We have to press if we’re going to catch up.’ As soon as they did, they started forcing turnovers and the game was at a different level.”
The bronze medalist Whitehorse Vanier Catholic Crusaders: Colleen Prenoslo; Sadie Peter
The silver medalist Whitehorse F.H. Collins Warriors: Quynh Nguyen; Jay Kelly; Sam Burgis; Nicola Lazeo-Fairman; Jacy Sam; coach Sarah Crane
The gold medalist Whitehorse Porter Creek Rams: Megan Lanigan; Daria Jordan; Rachel Dawson; Emily Mervin; coach Kasia Leary