For starters, don't forget about our contest open to our Twitter followers (@cwossabball) --- to make things a little interesting, $20 to the person who has the closest prediction to tonight's senior game (i.e. SMHS by 12, RCSS by 9, etc.). To participate, simply "@" us with your selection!
Now that I have that out of the way, let's move on to this evening's affairs at St. Mary's High School in Kitchener (Junior - 6pm; Senior - 8pm).
Junior
(1) Resurrection [11-0 D8] vs. (2) St. Mary's [8-3 D8]
Season Series: RCSS 2-0 (W 33-28, W 34-32)
Key Players (RCSS): Sarah Schultz (D8 leading scorer), Celia McGlynn, Ellen McGowan, Andrea Phillippi
Key Players (SMHS): Angela Mercurio, Sydney Greulich, Laura Kay, Beth Zebib
Analysis
You may as well throw the ranking and any accompanying stats out the window for this D8 final. This one seems to be as close to a coin-flip as you can get.
This year's D8 junior league was an extremely competitive league. Yes, Resurrection finished undefeated with a 10-0 record, but they had a critical 5-0 record in games decided by 6 points or less.
The Eagles, meanwhile, have made tremendous strides through the season --- as emphasized by a convincing semifinal win over a tough St. David squad (35-20). The Eagles are led by the athletic Angela Mercurio and Sydney Greulich; both are capable of going off for big double-digit games.
Rez, meanwhile, had the D8's leading scorer in Sarah Schultz, but they aren't completely dependent on her for their offense. Celia McGlynn, Andrea Phillippi, and Ellen McGowan have all picked up the scoring slack in games where Schultz is particularly targeted by the opposition.
How do I see this one playing out? Well, I expect that it will not vary much from the norm of the D8 --- tough, defensive games that are in the low 30s. Expect some nerves early, as is typical in these sort of big games with a lot at stake (D8 championship and AAAA CWOSSA berth), but for the play to pick up to the level that these teams are capable of playing at.
For a prediction? Rez has to be considered the favourite, but St. Mary's is playing on their home floor (finals played at the highest senior seed's home). Not too much separates these squads, as evidenced by their season results. For that reason, I think this one will be decided by 3; I flipped my lucky coin and it came up St. Mary's. So I'll take the Eagles here.
Senior
(1) St. Mary's [11-0 D8] vs. (2) Resurrection [9-2 D8]
Season Series: SMHS 2-0 (W 52-24, W 48-41)
Key Players (RCSS): Jacqui Rodrigues, Janelle Santi, Marley Niescier
Key Players (SMHS): Kaitlyn Schenck (D8 Leading Scorer); Laura Boterman; Natasha Stoyakovich
Analysis
Going into this season, it was clear that the St. Mary's Eagles were the class of the D8 league, and they flexed their muscle throughout the season --- with only two of their 11 wins coming by single digits.
Led by prolific scoring guard Kaitlyn Schenck, this is as good a shot as this Eagles' team will have of possibly making some noise at the CWOSSA championships and grabbing an OFSAA berth --- the bulk of this team were members of the 2009 junior "AAAA" silver medalists.
Laura Boterman teams with Schenck in the backcourt to provide one of the better backcourts in CWOSSA, while Natashya Stoyakovich patrols the paint and brings great height to the centre position.
Rez, on the other hand, has their share of talent as well. Likely D8 all-stars Jacqui Rodrigues and Janelle Santi lead the way, but the Phoenix have had significant contributions from Marley Niescier, Jenna Schultz, and Danielle Duncan (who had a big effort in Rez's semifinal win).
One possible advantage that Rez would have entering this game is the fact that they had to play a very competitive D8 semifinal game against St. Benedict. Meanwhile, the Eagles wrapped up their season with Rockway, and Monsignor Doyle (semifinal) ---- so haven't had a "challenging" game in some time.
For that reason, I think that the Phoenix might hang around in the early going, but the Eagles have a bit too much depth as the game wears on (a similar formula was seen in last year's D8 finals).
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