Mark's Picks: D8 Tips Off Tonight With Championship Rematch

The St. Mary's Eagles and Resurrection Phoenix will tip off the regular season for the senior girls' D8 league this evening at St. Mary's HS in Kitchener (5:00pm start).

The game is a rematch of last year's D8 finals, where the Eagles overcame a slow start en route to a solid victory and the D8 title (and CWOSSA berth).

Both teams should again be very solid this season, thanks in large part to many key returnees.  The Eagles, in fact, return virtually their entire starting lineup from a season ago (as detailed in my ECI tournament post below), while Resurrection does lose their all-star point guard Megan Robinson (Memorial University) but they do return Janelle Santi and Jacqui Rodrigues this season.

Look for a hard-fought game but for the Eagles to be ahead at the end.

Today's other match-up sees St. David hosting Rockway (5:00pm).  I like the Celtics in that one as they try to improve upon their 3rd place finish in last year's D8 standings.