Holly Ryerse made three foul shots with nine-tenths of a second remaining in regulation time Saturday night to send the North Park Collegiate Trojans to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association's AAA senior girls basketball championships this week in Stratford.
Ryerse, who sat out most of the season with an ankle injury, used the foul shots to give the Trojans a 41-38 victory over the Brantford Collegiate Institute Mustangs in the championship game of the Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association's AAA tournament played at Jacob Hespeler Secondary School in Cambridge.
The 16-team OFSAA championships begin Thursday and conclude Saturday.
"I think we should be a top-eight seed but it's so difficult for us because CWOSSA is so huge," explained Trojans' head coach Andrea (Gump) Hawkins.
"I thought KCI (Kitchener Collegiate Institute) should have been a top-eight seed last year and they weren't. I don't know what they (tournament organizers) will do with us."
The Trojans and the Mustangs qualified for the CWOSSA championship game by winning semifi- nals Saturday morning.
The Trojans walked to an easy 63-17 win over the Galt Collegiate Institute Ghosts while the Mustangs needed Spencer Candy to hit a field goal with eight seconds remaining in regulation time to edge the KCI Raiders 30-29.
Spencer Candy was dominant as she scored 19 points and Jacqueline Jamula netted seven points.
Trojans' Reo Roland scored 14 points against Galt. Laura Chapple got 10 points and Allyson DeLorenzi finished with nine points.
In the championship game, Roland scored 12 points, DeLorenzi 11, Chapple eight and Ryerse seven.
Spencer Candy was outstanding in the final as she scored 18 points and her twin sister, Tory, scored 12.
The Trojans used hot shooting from the perimeter to build a 25-14 lead in the first half.
However, the Mustangs rallied in the second half and eventually took a 38-36 lead.
The Trojans tied the score when Roland went two-for-two from the foul line with about one minute to play.
The Mustangs went on offence and attempted to take the lead but their "in-and-out" shot was rebounded by the Trojans, who decided to play for the final shot with 30 seconds remaining.
Ryerse was fouled as she attempted to drive to the basket.
The Trojans got two extra foul shots when BCI coach Ron Jamula objected to the foul call and was given a technical foul.
Ryerse made three of the four foul shots.
"The best part was having two Brantford teams in the final as that hasn't happened in awhile," said Hawkins.
'We're playing the best basketball we've ever played. They (BCI) played good defence and finished well around rim the second half. Both teams wanted it. It was amazing. Spencer Candy kept them in the game."
It was the final game for Jamula coaching a group of players he's coached since they were "eight or nine years old."
"It was a great way to end but a very difficult way to end," Jamula said.
"It was a hard-played, well-played basketball game. It would have been nice to get to OFSAA but I hope North Park does well."
Guelph St. James defeated North Park 81-58 in a junior semifinal game Saturday morning.
Abbey Johnston scored 26 points for the junior Trojans. Abbey Sayles and Kirsten Sowa each scored 11 points.
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