Almost 10 months to the day after defeating the Brantford St. John's Green Eagles 46-39 in the 2011 CWOSSA "AAAA" championship final, the WCI Vikings again went to Brantford and got past SJC by almost the exact same margin, this time topping the Eagles in a 45-39 thriller.
The game was tight throughout, with the Green Eagles taking a 22-18 second quarter lead before the Vikes tallied the final four points of the half to tie things up at 22. The 'back and forth' trend continued in the third, with WCI taking a slim lead early only to see that flipped by the end of the frame as SJC assumed a 3-point lead heading to the fourth.
More lead changes ensued during the final eight minutes, and it wasn't until grade 10 rookie Kaylee Anagnostopoulos' "and one" basket with just over 1:00 to go that put WCI up by 2 (a lead that they would not relinquish). WCI would go 6-for-6 from the FT line down the stretch to help ice the game and account for most of the final margin of victory.
"We got the better of them this time, but it was very clear to me that these are two evenly matched teams that would likely split 5-5 if we were able to play ten times against each other," said Viking Head Coach Craig Nickel after the win.
WCI's Lindsay Taylor posted 17 points (including 8-for-8 FTs) and 4 rebounds for the winners, while Anagnostopoulos had an efficient 14 points (6-for-9 FGs). Forward Alex Klein chipped in with a near double-double of 9 points and 11 rebounds.
Forward Megan Thompson equalled Taylor's game-high with 17 points of her own for St. John's, while grade 9 PG Kendra Van Leeuwen notched 14 points.
WCI advanced to the final with a 47-31 win over Brantford North Park. Taylor (15), Klein (11 PTS & 10 REB), and guard Julia Pavlik (11) were all in double-digits for WCI; Ali DeLorenzi provided the bulk of NPC's offense with a 15-point effort.
St. John's defeated Guelph Bishop Mac in the other semifinal; scoring details were not immediately available.
