Senior Girls: Eagles Lose in Tip-Off Championship

It's been a long time since the St. John's Eagles senior basketball team had lost a game.

Since the Eagles went undefeated en route to an OFSAA "AAAA" gold medal last year, they had last lost a game in 2008, to be exact.

Now, after dropping a game in the recent Purple & White touranment to London Pope John Paul II, the Eagles were nipped again, this time by Hamilton St. Mary's 61-59 on Sunday evening (at St. Mary's) in the championship game of the St. Mary's Tip-Off Classic.

Of course, when your losses are to two of Ontario's elite senior girls basketball programs by a combined 7 points, that still bodes very well for your medal possibilities at OFSAA later this fall.

Kelly Van Leeuwen and Kayla Santilli each scored 14 points in the game, which was a rematch of a semifinal game at last year's OFSAA championship --- obviously won by St. John's (51-43), though they did trail 40-37 heading into the 4th quarter of that contest.

Earlier on Sunday, the Eagles had defeated Hamilton St. Thomas More 57-33 to reach the final, backed by 10 from Santili and 9 from Van Leeuwen.

We should clarify that this is probably one of the most high profile senior tournaments in Ontario.  The format was such that pool winners (4) advanced to Sunday's semifinals; but getting out of your pool is an issue in itself --- St. John's pool featured Burlington Notre Dame (OFSAA AAAA Silver 2010), Ingersoll (OFSAA AAA #3 ranking last year) and Regiopolis from Kingston (2009 KASSAA champs).  The Eagles went 3-0 in their pool, with the following results:

St. John's 52, Burlington Notre Dame 39

In a rematch of last year's OFSAA championship game, the Eagles again topped the Irish.  Van Leeuwen (18) and Santilli (10) were the top scorers.

St. John's 69, Ingersoll 49

Van Leeuwen and Santilli scored 18 each in the win.

St. John's 59, Regiopolis ND (Kingston) 44

SJC:  Katie Polischuk 16, Van Leeuwen 16, Santilli 16.

The above trio (Polischuk, Van Leeuwen and Santilli) were all named to the tournament all-star team along with Karly Roser (St. Mary's - MVP), Jenna Bugiardini (St. Mary's), Danielle Boiago (St. Thomas More) and Andrea Kiss (St. Anne's).

Meanwhile, another CWOSSA school, the Waterloo CI Vikings also participated in the tournament.  The Vikes finished 2nd in their pool (2-1) and did not qualify for the semifinals. 

WCI's scores were:

St. Thomas More (Hamilton) 58, WCI 45

WCI 58, Sarnia Northern 52

WCI 46, Thomson (Scarborough) 36

Of note:  Thomson was ranked #5 in the latest GTA-area senior girls' ranking on hooptowngta.com.