The Vikes advanced to their 10th straight WCSSAA senior championship final by holding off the Bluevale Knights 39-29 in the WCSSAA senior semifinals on Saturday evening at Cameron Heights CI.
Both teams had already secured berths at this coming weekend's CWOSSA "AAAA" tournament.
The Knights entered the contest a bit shorthanded, as they were playing without one of their key scorers, grade 10 Kailee Sawyer. Sawyer, as many of you know, is an outstanding track/cross country runner and was with her club XC team at Provincials on Saturday.
Still, the Knights were able to keep the pace slowed to the point that they certainly were in it almost right until the end. They trailed by only 5 (22-17) at half and after three quarters (27-22) before WCI's big game experience accounted for some key plays late in the contest.
Another Bluevale grade 10, 6'2" F Julia Curran, had a very strong game as she led all scorers with 16 points while adding 5 rebounds.
Alex Klein had 15 points and 13 rebounds for WCI, while Erin Helsby added 7 points and 6 rebounds off the bench.
Also scoring for Bluevale were Sarah Hamm (8), Victoria Gunpat (4), and Natalie Bishop (1).
WCI's other scorers on Saturday included Lindsay Taylor (6), Julia Pavlik (5), Kaylee Anagnostopoulos (4), Anja Gorrie (2) and Courtney Banham (1).
The Vikings maintained a solid 35-21 edge in the rebounding department on Saturday.
Boxscore
BCI 08-09-05-07 = 29
WCI 08-14-05-12 = 39
Bluevale
A. Shinkar 0 0-2 0, V. Gunpat 2 0-0 4, J. Curran 7 2-6 16, N. Bishop 0 1-2 1, S. Hamm 3 1-2 8.
Three-Point Goals: S. Hamm 1.
WCI
A. Gorrie 1 0-0 2, A. Klein 7 1-1 15, L. Taylor 3 0-1 6, K. Anagnostopoulos 2 0-0 4, J. Pavlik 2 1-2 5, C. Banham 0 1-2 1, E. Helsby 2 1-2 7.
Three-Point Goals: E. Helsby 1.
