The heavily anticipated match-up between not only the top two teams in the "AAA" CWOSSA division, but also probably in all of CWOSSA finally went down in front of a standing-room only crowd at North Park on Saturday evening.Despite the Green Eagles pulling away down the stretch for a 50-36 win, it certainly didn't disappoint, especially from an intensity perspective as the contest had everything you'd expect from a CWOSSA final game.
Early on, both teams showed no signs of nerves, with each squad able to execute their sets offensively; the Crusaders held a 17-15 lead after one quarter of play.
The Green Eagles were finally able to wrestle momentum away from the Crusaders late in the second quarter, with Monica Polgar connecting from long-range on a pair of three-pointers, and Kendra Van Leeuwen adding two more on a lay-up off of a turnover that extended St. John's to a double-digit lead (32-21). WODSS' star, Maddy Horst, had a nice coast-to-coast effort to cut the lead back to single digits at halftime.
Any momentum from Horst's basket was quickly erased as Van Leeuwen knocked home a three-pointer in the opening seconds of the third quarter to bring things back up to a 12-point lead.
Timely makes and precision by St. John's from the free throw line were certainly the theme of the game.
The Crusaders had things within 8 points a couple of times in the fourth quarter, the latter after a Tess Pettigrew basket cut things to 41-33. However, Van Leeuwen responded with her second three-pointer of the half to the delight of the large St. John's crowd in attendance.
After that, the Green Eagles were able to do a fantastic job of running their offense to help eat away precious seconds ---- taking over a minute off of the clock before Van Leeuwen's basket at around the 3:00 mark essentially put things on ice for St. John's.
Van Leeuwen, a grade ten PG widely considered one of the top Canadians in her graduating class, led the way for St. John's with 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. Polgar was also in double-figures with 12, while Brianna Bavota added 8.
Horst was solid as usual for Waterloo-Oxford, finishing with 13 points on an efficient 6-for-11 from the field, while also adding four assists. Pettigrew had 10 points, while Alisha Glendinning and Libby Brenneman each had 4.
The Green Eagles shot 13-for-14 (93%) from the free-throw line.
The win will mark the 7th time that the Green Eagles advance through to the OFSAA championships; they have been very successful in recent years with a 2011 "AAAA" silver medal to go along with an "AAA" gold medal (2008) and another silver (2009). However, it was their first CWOSSA finals win in three years, with WCI having taken the "AAAA" title over the Green Eagles the last two years.
Boxscore
WODSS 17-06-06-07 = 36
SJC 15-17-07-11 = 50
WODSS
B. Payne 0-10 FG, 2-2 FT, 4 Reb, 0 Ast - 2 Pts.
M. Horst 6-11 FG, 1-2 FT, 1 Reb, 4 Ast - 13 Pts.
K. Burrough 0-0 FG, 3-4 FT, 6 Reb, 1 Ast - 3 Pts.
T. Pettigrew 5-8 FG, 0-0 FT, 4 Reb, 1 Ast - 10 Pts.
A. Glendin'g 1-2 FG, 2-4 FT, 5 Reb, 1 Ast - 4 Pts.
------------
L. Brenneman 2-3 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 4 Pts.
E. Glendin'g 0-1 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
Field Goals: 14-35 (.400). Free-Throws: 8-12 (.667). Three-Point Goals: 0-7, .000 (M. Horst 0-2, B. Payne 0-5).
St. John's
M. Polgar 4-9 FG, 2-2 FT, 1 Reb, 1 Ast - 12 Pts.
Van Leeuwen 5-17 FG, 4-4 FT, 5 Reb, 3 Ast - 16 Pts.
B. Bavota 3-5 FG, 2-2 FT, 2 Reb, 0 Ast - 8 Pts.
L. Coon 1-3 FG, 0-0 FT, 3 Reb, 1 Ast - 2 Pts.
M. Thompson 1-5 FG, 4-4 FT, 3 Reb, 1 Ast - 7 Pts.
-----------------
M. Cohoon 2-5 FG, 1-2 FT, 4 Reb, 2 Ast - 5 Pts.
Field Goals: 16-44 (.363). Free-Throws: 13-14 (.929). Three-Point Goals: 5-22, .227 (M. Polgar 2-7, K. Van Leeuwen 2-8, M. Thompson 1-5, B. Bavota 0-1, L. Coon 0-1).
