The Jacob Hespeler Hawks gave it their all on Saturday night in the CWOSSA "AAA" final against the St. John's Green Eagles, but it was SJC coming through down the stretch to complete their perfect season with a 42-32 victory at North Park CVS.The Green Eagles started strong on the offensive and defensive ends; a Bridget Kwasnik three-point buzzer-beater at the end of the first quarter gave them a 7-point lead (11-4), which they would extend to a 12-point lead (25-13) at halftime.
But, just when it seemed as though you could write off the Hawks --- they battled back.
Trailing 27-13, Taylor Finamore found teammate Charlotte Clifford twice underneath for lay-ups on consecutive possessions which trimmed the deficit to 10 (27-17).
Shianne Riggan then got into the act for Jacob Hespeler, scoring a basket while taking some contact and then converting another "and-one" shortly after that to trim things down to 28-23.
The nervous moments for St. John's supporters would continue after Maggie Peterson cut the lead to one (28-27) with 2:30 to go, before the Hawks actually took a one-point lead (29-28).
That seemed to be the wake-up call that the Green Eagles needed, as they finished the quarter on a 7-0 run capped by another Kwasnik three-ball at the buzzer to take a 35-29 lead heading into the final frame.
In that final quarter, the Green Eagles went to work on the defensive end, just like they did in the morning's semifinal against KCI (they held the Raiders scoreless in that one). Although St. John's only netted 7 points in the final frame, they held the Hawks to just three in the final quarter, and their first points came with about 2 minutes remaining.
So, that would be fourteen minutes of holding their opposition scoreless in the fourth quarter on Saturday. Pretty impressive.
In the end, the Hawks didn't have enough time to come back, but you can't say enough about their strong effort as significant underdogs.
St. John's was led by forward Kayla Gaucher, who had 13 points to go along with 13 rebounds. Kwasnik went 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and added a couple of free throws for an 11 point effort, while Ashley Derks had a strong effort off the bench (8 points and 2 assists).
For the Hawks, Maggie Peterson and Shianne Riggan each had 9 while Charlotte Clifford had 8.
The win marked the 6th time in the last 8 years that St. John's has captured the CWOSSA junior title at the AAA or AAAA level. They won the "AAAA" crown in 2010 & 2011, to go along with "AAA" titles in 2006, 2007, and 2008.
Boxscore
JHSS 04-09-16-03 = 32
SJC 11-14-10-07 = 42
Jacob Hespeler
C. Clifford 4-8 FG, 0-1 FT, 3 Reb, 1 Ast - 8 Pts.
T. Finamore 0-5 FG, 0-0 FT, 4 Reb, 1 Ast - 0 Pts.
S. Riggan 4-13 FG, 1-2 FT, 7 Reb, 0 Ast - 9 Pts.
M. Peterson 3-9 FG, 3-5 FT, 3 Reb, 3 Ast - 9 Pts.
K. Dennis 0-4 FG, 0-0 FT, 3 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
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K. Gallant 2-7 FG, 0-0 FT, 7 Reb, 1 Ast - 4 Pts.
E. Pond 1-1 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 2 Pts.
A. Claydon 0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
J. Kennell 0-1 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
Field Goals: 14-48 (.292). Free-Throws: 4-8 (.500). Three-Point Goals: 0-5, .000 (T. Finamore 0-1, K. Dennis 0-1, S. Riggan 0-3).
St. John's
B. Kwasnik 3-8 FG, 2-2 FT, 1 Reb, 2 Ast - 11 Pts.
A. Girardi 1-4 FG, 0-0 FT, 5 Reb, 1 Ast - 2 Pts.
E. Dignan 0-3 FG, 0-0 FT, 3 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
L. deMont'cy 3-9 FG, 0-0 FT, 5 Reb, 3 Ast - 6 Pts.
K. Gaucher 5-11 FG, 3-4 FT, 13 Reb, 1 Ast - 13 Pts.
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S. Lemmon 1-3 FG, 0-0 FT, 3 Reb, 1 Ast - 2 Pts.
A. Derks 4-6 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 2 Ast - 8 Pts.
S. O'Grady 0-1 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
A. Brimmer 0-1 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
K. Biro 0-1 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
Field Goals: 17-47 (.362). Free-Throws: 5-6 (.833). Three-Point Goals: 3-5 (B. Kwasnik 3-4, L. de Montmorency 0-1).
