It was senior night at Grand River CI in Kitchener yesterday, where graduating players (L-R) Hannah Gardiner, Hannah Gibson and Jamie Noonan received their parting gifts from Head Coach Scott Reynolds.
Although it was their final home game, it won't be their last in a Renegade uniform as #6 Grand River got past #11 Forest Heights 52-30, with Grand River getting a key contribution from one of those seniors (Noonan with 11 points) and one of their young stars (Nyamuoch Teny with 23). Linna Liou led the Trojans with 8.
Other games also went to form, with the 8/9 games and the 7/10 matchups providing the closest spreads on the day.
#8 Southwood, who defeated Elmira earlier in the year in OT, again survived a close affair against the Lancers, pulling out a 36-32 win. Taylor White (13) and Megan Cole (11) were the top Southwood scorers, while Sydney Jones had 11 for the Lancers.
Cameron Heights (#7) got 18 points from Shama Saleh and 11 from Hunter Johns in a 53-41 win over Huron Heights. Johns has missed some games this year due to injury, so that's a huge boost for the Gaels if she's good to go for the playoffs. Tianna Doiron and Jenna Gangl scored 11 each for Huron.
The highest-ranked team in a qualifying game, #5 KCI, was a 46-26 winner over Eastwood. Christiana Koebel had 11 and Alia Hazineh 8 for the Raiders, while Mel Samuel scored 10 for the Rebels.
Tuesday Senior Quarterfinals
(1) WODSS vs. (8) Southwood
(2) Bluevale vs. (7) Cameron Hts.
(3) Jacob Hespeler vs. (6) Grand River
(4) WCI vs. (5) KCI
Junior
The story was a similar one in the Junior WCSSAA qualifying round, where the closest game was the 8/9 game, also a 4-point win for the 8-seed as Cameron Heights nipped Forest Heights, 35-31. Katrina Stickel scored 10 and Alex Smith 8 for Cameron who survived an 18-point barrage from FHCI's Sona Khalifeh.
The other three games were all decided by a comfortable margin of at least 20 points.
#5 Preston, who only beat Elmira by 13 points on Tuesday, held the Lancers to just 12 in their home gym in a 50-12 win. Claire Gagne (10) and Alayna Johnson (8) paced the Panthers, while Erika Morrison had 4 for Elmira.
Bluevale (#7) held WO's Emily Glendinning in check (just 7 points) as they ran away with a 42-17 victory. Kiera Grein (12) and Madelaine Fielding (9) were the top Bluevale scorers in that one.
Galt Collegiate, who have played well down the stretch, defeated Eastwood 41-20, with Emma Buck (14) and Erin Wilson (12) both contributing double-digit efforts. Danielle Gardiner was the leading scorer for ECI with 8.
WCSSAA Junior Quarterfinals
(1) Grand River vs. (8) Cameron Heights
(2) KCI vs. (7) Bluevale
(3) Jacob Hespeler vs. (6) Galt
(4) SJAM vs. (5) Preston
