WCSSAA Playoffs: Several Lower Seeds Pull Surprises

Several "underdogs" (at least from a seeding perspective) pulled through with victories on the opening round of the WCSSAA junior and senior girls playoffs on Thursday afternoon.

In the senior division, the #10 KCI Raiders squeaked past #7 Forest Heights on the road by a 36-35 final.  Olivia Nelles had 14 and Christiana Koebel 5 in the victory, while the Raiders limited the damage by FHCI's Blair McNaughton (17).  Hannah Poole also had 6 for the Trojans.

The other lower seed to advance were the #9 Elmira Lancers, who took out #8 Southwood 46-40.  Krista Wiens contributed 16 and Amy Hachman 9 in the win; Southwood was led by Nicole Barnard's 15 and Kayleigh Hutt-Taylor, who had 10.

#5 Jacob Hespeler and #6 Cameron Heights had a bit easier time of things to advance through to the quarterfinals.

The Hawks took out #12 Grand River 49-27, thanks to a balanced attack led by Brooklyn Wright (11) and Naomi Adams (11).  Ana Milanovic was the lone Renegade in double figures with 10.

Meanwhile, the Gaels beat #11 Galt CI 49-35.  Ashanti Lewis (15) and Tyshaine Page (14) led the way on a day where Liz McLellan was held in check.  Suzanna Lam had 11 and Milica Stevanovic 8 for the Ghosts.

That sets up next Tuesday's quarterfinal round, as follows:

(1) WCI vs. (9) Elmira

(2) Preston vs. (10) KCI --- winner advances to "AAA" CWOSSA

(3) Eastwood vs. (6) Cameron Heights

(4) Bluevale vs. (5) Jacob Hespeler

In terms of the CWOSSA qualification update, there are 4 "AAAA" teams left battling for 2 spots, and 4 "AAA" teams battling for 3 spots.  As such, should Preston beat KCI next Tuesday, the spots will go to Preston, JHSS, and Elmira.  Still some work to be done, however.

Junior

The #10 Eastwood Rebels got 13 from Mel Samuel and 10 from Sam Legue en route to a 41-33 win over the #7 Forest Heights Trojans.  

The other games went as expected.  #5 Jacob Hespeler topped #12 Southwood 44-37, as they held Taylor White to 15 points on Thursday.  Cali Doran had 9 more for SSS, while the Hawks received 12 each from Courtney Wright and Jasmine Ramcharan.

In the 8/9 game, Bluevale took out Cameron Heights 48-36.  Leah DenHartogh led the way for the Knights with 12; Hunter Johns had a game-high 13 for Cameron.

#6 Grand River took out #11 SJAM 48-22, backed by 12 from Caroline Lorkovic and 8 each by Mackenzie Miller and Leslie Ogalvie.  Sam Fowler (8) and Safina Husein (6) topped the 'Lander scoring list.

That sets up next Tuesday's quarterfinal schedule as follows:

(1) WODSS vs. (8) Bluevale

(2) WCI vs. (10) Eastwood

(3) Elmira vs. (6) Grand River

(4) KCI vs. (5) Jacob Hespeler --- winner advances to "AAA" CWOSSA

WCI and Grand River are in the driver's seat for the two "AAAA" CWOSSA berths, as either ECI (over WCI) or BCI (over WODSS) would need to pull the upset to have a chance of advancing through.

Things are actually wrapped up as far as the "AAA" junior berths.  Based upon their higher ranking, Waterloo-Oxford and Elmira have clinched AAA CWOSSA berths.  The third WCSSAA berth will go to the winner of KCI/JHSS.