Article By: Rob Massey GUELPH — It's been a while since the St. James Lions have won the District 10 senior girls' basketball crown.
They'll be looking to end a nine-year drought Saturday afternoon at the University of Guelph's Mitchell Athletics Centre when they battle the Bishop Macdonell Celtics, winners of five titles since the Lions last won.
The two teams gained berths in Saturday's championship match by posting semifinal victories Thursday.
Saturday's D10 senior final will be the first for the Lions since they won the title in 2003 with a 49-35 triumph over the Lourdes Crusaders for their fifth consecutive championship.
Bishop Mac, on the other hand, has been to the final seven times in the last nine years, winning it five times (2004, 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2012).
While the Lions haven't won the senior title for a decade, many members of the current senior squad played on the junior team that won the D10 title in 2009.
Thursday, the Lions withstood a slow start against the surprising Ross Royals to claim a 47-31 victory. Ross led 6-5 at the end of the first quarter before the hosts surged ahead 22-14 by halftime.
The Lions were up 33-20 after the third quarter.
"It was definitely closer than we thought," Chelsey Gazzola of the Lions said of the game. "Since they played Lourdes (in the quarter-finals) and had a really close game against them, I definitely knew they were going to bring everything that they've got, but it was just fortunate for us that we were able to pull through and show our real colours and really play our game today."
"Ross has played us tough every game this year," St. James coach Matt Harper said. "Maddy (Darling), when she gets hot, she can get really hot. That was our big worry today, but our defence played probably one of the best games we've played all year."
Gazzola and Nastassja Herriot hit for 10 points apiece for St. James, while Meghan Santi had seven, Julia Toscan six, Keely McVicar five, Ashley Benham and Sierra Rutherford four each and Lisa Aramiri one.
Darling netted 17 points for Ross, while Candice Greisel and Stephanie Gordon had four each, and Parry Rickers, Esha Bhattti and Laine Padovan had two each.
In the other semifinal Thursday, Bishop Mac defeated the Centennial Spartans 41-27.
Rebecca Morris netted 11 points for Bishop Mac, while Jess Morris added nine.
Emma Cain had 18 for Centennial, while Hannah Newman followed with seven.
St. James and Bishop Mac finished the regular season with identical 12-2 records. The Lions scored a league-high 640 points, while the Celtics surrendered a league low 386. Bishop Mac scored 568, while St. James yielded 424.
During the regular season, St. James defeated the Celtics 41-34 at Bishop Mac Sept. 26 and 49-39 at St. James Oct. 22.
The losses for the Lions were to Lourdes and the Guelph CVI Green Gaels five days apart a week prior to the second win over Bishop Mac.
"Our season's been up and down," Harper said. "We started really strong, but then we had some injuries. But we've recovered from that, and I think we're peaking at the right time now."
"All our girls are healthy and back ready to roll," Gazzola said. "We went through a lot this year and our team fell apart at one point. Now that we're all back together, I feel that we have a good chance of winning and hopefully going to OFSAA."
Saturday's senior final at the Mitchell Athletics Centre is set for 3 p.m.
D10 Jr. Girls Basketball
The Lourdes Crusaders and Bishop Macdonell Celtics will meet in Saturday's final at the U of G's Mitchell Athletics Centre.
In Thursday's semifinals, Lourdes doubled the Centennial Spartans 50-25 and Bishop Mac dropped the Ross Royals 47-23.
Rainey Psenicka led Lourdes with 15 points, while Brin Krueger added 12. Lauren Brombal netted seven, while Natasha Martinez had six and Jenna Vettoretto four.
Carter Godman collected 12 for Centennial, while Megan Paddock added four.
Johanna deJong's 10 points led Bishop Mac, while Sophia Nash had nine, Christine Sullivan eight, Tian Wood seven, Leah Parisotto six and Laura Sarro four.
Ross received 10 points from Mya Leacock, five from Heather Anderson and four from Mary Grace Mackan.Lourdes finished atop the standings at the completion of the regular season at 13-1, while Bishop Mac was second at 12-2.
The Crusaders swept the two regular-season meetings, winning 43-31 at Bishop Mac Oct. 8 and 40-33 at home Oct 31.
Tipoff for Saturday's junior final is 1 p.m.
