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| Senior Bishop Mac Celtics |
GUELPH — The Bishop Macdonell Celtics
and Lourdes Crusaders turned up the defence to claim District 10 high
school girls' basketball titles Saturday at the Mitchell Athletics
Centre.
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| Junior Lourdes Crusaders |
Lourdes won its third junior
championship in four years after shutting down the Bishop Mac attack for
a 36-19 victory.
In the senior game, the defending
champion Celtics avenged a pair of regular-season losses to the Lions,
their only two setbacks in league play.
"The line we were going with was
redemption," Bishop Mac coach Karen Bremner said. "Playing in District
10 for quite a few years, I was a part of a lot of good teams at Bishop
Mac, and it's really hard to beat a team three times. Third time was a
charm for us."
"We knew we had to leave it all out
there on the court and we really came into this wanting to win it,"
Bishop Mac captain Jessica Morris said. "We really wanted the ball and I
think that's why we came out on top."
Those setbacks to the Lions really
grated on the Celtics and they were determined there'd be no slip-ups on
the hectic week that is D10 playoff basketball with the quarter-finals,
semifinals and final being held in a five-day span.
"This past week, we were really
focused," Jessica Morris said. "Coming off the two losses to St. James
was tough on us because we thought we were the best team in the league.
Tonight was an opportunity to prove that and we really came out hard."
The Celtics held the lead at the end of
each quarter in the final as they were up 13-12 after the first quarter,
24-19 at halftime and 33-23 after the third quarter. The teams traded
buckets throughout most of the first half until the Celtics built their
modest first-half lead in the final minute of the half. In the second
half, Bishop Mac got the lead to nine with a couple of minutes to go,
but the Lions wouldn't go away.
"They competed right to the end,"
Bremner said of the Lions. "We had them at nine and they fought back and
made it interesting."
Jessica Morris led Bishop Mac with a
game-high 21 points. Rebecca Morris added six while Danielle Driscoll
had four, Rachael DiGravio, Kerrie Sullivan, Elle Young and Madi
Martinez had two each and Marcela Gadzinska netted one.
"She was lights out," Bremner said of
the team's scoring leader. "We have to ask a lot of her on the defensive
end, so sometimes that takes away from the offensive output. But today,
she must have slept really well because she shot the ball very well."
Chelsey Gazzola and Keely McVicar
collected 10 points apiece for St. James and were followed by Julia
Toscan and Ashley Benham with four each, Meghan Santi and Sierra
Rutherford with three each and Nastassja Herriot with two.
Both teams advance to CWOSSA
championship tournaments, Bishop Mac to the AA tourney they'll host
Wednesday and Thursday and St. James to the AAA tournament at Brantford
Friday and Saturday.
The AA tournament has been the
possession of the Celtics for the last nine years as it's usually
anticlimatic after a tough D10 final.
"We always hold our breath when we go
in," Bremner said. "In the years past, we've been very, very successful,
but you never know with those northern teams. They might have a couple
of sleeper kids that are little superstars and we need to be prepared
for that."
In the D10 junior final, Lourdes used a full-court press to stymie the Celtics.
"That's what we've been working on the
whole second half of the season," Lourdes coach Mike O'Rourke said of
his team's defensive play. "We've been building on our strengths because
we have such good guards — we have fast girls. We implemented it in the
second half of the season."
The championship-game performance was the top defensive outing of the season for the Crusaders.
"I didn't expect this kind of a
defensive outing in my wildest dreams. It was beautiful to see,"
O'Rourke said.
"We sometimes have defensive stretches for quarters or
halves or something like that, and then we kind of have some slips. But
that was the best top-to-bottom defence we've had yet and I can't ask
anything more from them."
The Crusaders led 12-2 at the end of the
first quarter, 16-6 at halftime and 28-12 after the third quarter.
Rainey Psenicka led all scorers with 10
points for Lourdes while Natasha Martinez had seven, Liz Endicott six,
Jenna Vettoretto five, Lauren Brombal three, Hannah McIntosh and Sam
Sultan two each and Brin Krueger one.
The Celtics received six points from
Joanna deJong, five from Christine Sullivan and two each from Tian Wood,
Sophia Nash, Sadie Scapinello and Laura Sarro.
The win gives the Crusaders a berth in
the CWOSSA AA tournament hosted by Bishop Mac Wednesday and Thursday.
