Article By: Rob Massey
GUELPH — Like the Centennial Spartans, the
John F. Ross Royals also have their eye on the CWOSSA berth in the OFSAA
AAAA provincial girls' basketball championship tournament that is to be
held in Guelph next month.
"Our goal going into this (season) was to
win D10 and get to CWOSSA so we could make it to OFSAA," Ross coach
Jamie Gusba said. "We haven't been there since Gemma Bullard and Jasmine
Douglas, that crew played together. Dennis Wilkes was coaching that
team. We haven't been there for a while so we're itching. This is the
year to do it."
Ross secured a home game in next week's
quarter-finals with a 45-16 victory over the Centre Wellington Falcons
at Ross Tuesday. The Royals will finish either third or fourth, that
position being dependant on the result of their final regular-season
game Thursday against the Lourdes Crusaders.
If the Royals win that game or lose it by
one point or two, they'll finish third. If Lourdes wins by three or more
points, the Crusaders will get third.
"We're in control," Gusba said. "If we beat Lourdes, we'll get third, and we're looking to do that."
Top four finishers host quarter-final
matches. The league's regular season will finish with five teams having
winning percentages of .500 or better and the bottom three having
winning percentages of .357 or lower.
Both the Royals and Crusaders will be
looking to grab third to avoid a fourth-place finish and a quarter-final
date with the fifth-placed team.
"We've now got a healthy team, and that's
big," Gusba said. "We've had some ankle sprains and some other stuff to
deal with. We've got seven Grade 12s so we're an experienced team. We
only lost a couple of players from last year's team so the experience is
going to come in big for the playoffs."
Centennial, Ross and the Orangeville Bears
are the District 10 teams that will battle for the lone District 10 spot
in the CWOSSA AAAA tournament.
If things play out a certain way, the Spartans and Royals could be semifinal combatants.
"That would be a huge game," Gusba said.
"Not only would you get to go to the University of Guelph for the (D10)
final, you get to go to CWOSSA for a shot at getting to go to OFSAA."
The OFSAA AAAA girls' basketball
championship tournament presented by Reid's Heritage Homes is to be held
in Guelph Nov. 20 to 22. Preliminary games are to be played at
Centennial and College Heights while the semifinals and final are to go
at the University of Guelph's Mitchell Athletics Centre.
Tuesday, Ross went on a 16-point run to
start the second quarter, and that put the game away early. Ross led 9-6
at the end of the first quarter, 30-10 at halftime and 38-15 after the
third quarter.
Mya Leacock and Ali Darling led the Royals
with eight points apiece while Heather Anderson had seven and Teddi
Taran netted six.
Kayla Teeter had four for Centre Wellington
while Maddie Fennell and Nicki Sinkner netted three apiece.
Retrieved From: http://www.guelphmercury.com/sports-story/4949414-ross-royals-keep-spot-in-ofsaa-girls-hoops-tournament-in-sight/
