WCSSAA Senior: Panthers Clinch First-Round Bye With Road Win At Cameron

The Preston Panthers had a pretty successful week.

After squeaking past the Jacob Hespeler Hawks (8-3) on Tuesday, the Panthers received another solid effort from Kirsten Leach (18 points) en route to a 55-43 victory on the road at Cameron Heights.

The win moves the Panthers to 10-1, and officially solidifies them as one of the league's top 4 squads.

Cameron Heights, meanwhile, are looking at (likely) 6th place in the standings if they don't beat Eastwood in their final regular season next Tuesday in a great rivalry game.  Regardless, this year should produce some very competitive quarterfinal matchups.

On Thursday, Ashley White added 12 points alongside Leach's 18 for Preston, while Cameron was led by Liz McLellan (17) and Ashanti Lewis (12).

Here's the rest of Thursday's WCSSAA senior action:

Eastwood 46, Glenview Park 28

My Pick:  ECI

The Rebs received 22 from Michelle Hudyn as they cruised past Glenview on Thursday.  Lindsay Ward added 9, while GPSS saw Alyssa Goodridge have a solid outing (16) while Maggie Tucker added 5.

Forest Heights 47, KCI 39

My Pick:  FHCI

A competitive game that could potentially be a playoff preview, depending on how things shake down next week.  The Raiders held Blair McNaughton relatively in check, as she didn't lead her squad in scoring for the first time this season (still finishing with 16 points).  Teammate Sara Potter, though, picked a great time for a breakout performance with 18 in the win.  Olivia Nelles (12) and Andrea Bowra (6) led KCI.

Elmira 54, Grand River 39

My Pick:  EDSS

The Lancers' Krista Wiens was on fire on Thursday, pouring in 29 points as the Lancers picked up a key win to stay in the hunt to host a first-round playoff qualifying game.  Jessica Reichard added 7, while GRCI's scoring details were unavailable.

WCI 74, Jacob Hespeler 38

My Pick:  WCI

The Vikes taught the youthful Hawks a couple of lessons on Thursday, with several WCIers in double figures --- Lindsay Lessard (21), Alex Klein (15), and Julia Pavlik (13).  Taylor Dennis and Brooklyn Wright had 12 each for the Hawks.

Galt 43, SJAM 38

My Pick:  GCI

The Ghosts control their own destiny with regards to the playoffs after this win on the road against SJAM.  Milica Stevanovic had 15 and Suzanna Lam 8 in the win, while Malena McCrossan-Moses (13) and Jillian Reiter (10) topped the Highlander scoring.

Bluevale 44, Southwood 34

My Pick:  BCI

The Sabres gave the Knights a bit of a run on Tuesday, but BCI prevailed in the end.  Sarah Hamm (17), Natalie Bishop (12) and Shannon Curran (9) led the way for Bluevale, while a trio of Sabres --- Courtney Harley, Angela McLean and Maddie Brundage --- had 6 each.

Bye Win:  HHHS

And, we'll add in WCI's bye win next Tuesday in the below standings update....

WCSSAA Senior Standings

1.  WCI 12-0** (clinched 1st)

2.  Preston 10-1**

3.  Eastwood 9-2 (H2H over Bluevale)*

4.  Bluevale 9-2*

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T5.  Jacob Hespeler 8-3*

T5.  Cameron Heights 8-3*

T7.  Elmira 7-4*

T7.  Forest Heights 7-4*

9.  Southwood 6-5*

10.  KCI 4-7*

11.  Galt 3-8

T12.  Grand River 2-9

T12.  Glenview Park 2-9

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T14.  SJAM 1-9

T14.  Huron Heights 1-9

** - clinched first round bye
* - clinched playoff spot

So, as we look ahead to Tuesday, a couple of key games:

Eastwood @ Cameron Heights

Huge game here.  A Cameron loss will likely put them 6th overall, as Jacob Hespeler will likely defeat Huron Heights in their final game.  ECI has all of a sudden put them in contention for a CWOSSA spot after an early-season slip-up against Elmira.

SJAM @ Grand River

Playoff spot is on the line here.  A Grand River win would eliminate SJAM from contention, and likely put the Rens in the playoff (pending the result of GCI/GPSS).  A SJAM win, and we could have a very interesting tiebreak situation going on.  

Glenview Park @ Galt

Glenview Park could leapfrog the Ghosts to 10th with a win and an SJAM win over GRCI.

The "ideal" situation (from a tiebreak perspective!) would be if Galt beats GPSS and Grand River takes out SJAM.  That makes things easy, with Galt having beaten GRCI, they would take 11th and GRCI 12th.

Things will start to get interesting if either GPSS or SJAM pull out a win!  

We'll see on Tuesday......