Article By: Gavin Crites
The St. John's College Green Eagles senior girls' basketball team are off to OFSAA this week after reaching the AAAA CWOSSA finals.
In tough for consecutive years against a big and talented Waterloo Collegiate Institute team, St. John's looked to continue with the hot shooting which got them through the early rounds and into the finals. The shots didn't fall though and Waterloo came away CWOSSA champs, 46-39 at Assumption College Saturday.
"We wanted to keep playing the way we've been playing all weekend long," St. John's coach Matt Lynch said. "We played some of the best basketball we've played all season."
"There were a few shots here and there that just didn't fall for us. That was the difference," Lynch added. "It's a great rivalry that we've built over the last few years against WCI."
Katie Polischuk, who played serious minutes throughout the tournament and is an essential part of the Eagles offense, led St. John's in scoring with 20 points. Polischuk drew a tough match up assignment versus Waterloo's Lindsay Lessard. Lessard led all scorers with 28 points in the game.
"We were a little flat, but we were shooting the ball incredibly all weekend," Polischuk said. "You can't do that four games straight. We knew that was going to happen. But we never gave up. We fought to the end."
It was a long and hard fought tournament for the senior Eagles. The Eagles are a smaller squad compared to most of their CWOSSA competition and rely on running the floor hard at the offensive end while playing above their size at the defensive end.
"We played three games in twenty four hours--three tough games," Polischuk said. "And to come here and play WCI, who's an amazing team... Our bodies are just breaking down a little. But we'll give (our bodies) a rest and head to OFSAA."
Charlotte Clark, who scored four points for St. John's in the final, left the semi final game earlier in the day after taking a blow to the neck running through a screen.
"I came back for this game because I didn't want to leave my girls," Clark said.
"Even though we lost it felt like we won," Clark added. "No one thought we would be here but we are. We proved everyone wrong again so to us it's a win."
Although they were guaranteed a spot at OFSAA win or lose in the final, Clark and Polischuk said they were focusing on the CWOSSA championship first and obviously wanted the win.
"We were here for this game," Clark said. "We knew we were going to OFFSSA but we wanted the CWOSSA title. It's fine. We'll get them at OFSAA."
The gold and silver medal finishers at CWOSSA are guaranteed a spot at OFSAA, which kicks off Wednesday Nov. 23 in Windsor.
"They're very big. They're very physical. They're well coached and we knew that it would take our best effort to beat them," Lynch said of the WCI team.
"Sometimes the shots fall and sometimes they don't. It doesn't take away from our effort this weekend. I couldn't be more proud of how they played," he added of his girls.
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