Guelph Mercury: Celtics, Spartans To Clash in D10 Hoops Final

Article By:  Rob Massey

GUELPH — Saturday night's District 10 high school senior girls' basketball final will feature one team that's made a habit of being there lately and another that hasn't been in the championship spotlight for a while. 

The Bishop Macdonell Celtics and Centennial Spartans are to play in the final. 

The game is 8 p.m. Saturday at the University of Guelph's Mitchell Athletics Centre. Both won semifinals Thursday. The Celtics disposed of the Ross Royals 52-36 after the Spartans ousted the Lourdes Crusaders 63-40. 

The Celtics jumped ahead early, extended the lead in the second quarter and then held the Royals off the rest of the way. Bishop Mac was ahead 17-9 at the end of the first quarter, 30-18 at halftime and 42-28 after the third quarter. Ross brought the gap down to 11 midway through the fourth quarter, but couldn't get any closer. 

"It went the way we hoped, not the way we thought," Bishop Mac coach Karen Bremner said. "I have a ton of respect for (Ross coach) Jamie (Gusba) and the way he runs his team and the kids always buy into what he sells. That makes it very difficult from a game-planning perspective because you always have to be on your toes." 

Ellie Young led the Celtics with 10 points while Rachael DiGravio added nine and Dianne Priamo and Jess Burke had seven apiece.

Teddi Taran hit for 12 points for Ross while Maddy Darling followed with nine. 

The Celtics have won six District 10 championships in the last 10 years, including the last two. 

"The history of the Bishop Mac team, to get there again is really nice," Young said. "As a team, we have worked really hard and we feel like we've grown together so we're really proud that we've achieved this." 

While the Bishop Mac program has been successful, this year's team is a little different from its predecessors. 

"This is the first year that we haven't had a kid who can necessarily just fill it up," Bremner said. "It's been a lot of scoring by committee and bringing the ball up by committee." 

"There are no star players. It's a real team effort," Young said. "I think it's better that way because if one person is out of the game, you don't have to depend on them because the team is still able to work with everyone because we're all balanced and of equal strength." 

Centennial last won the D10 title in 1998 and they haven't been in it since dropping a 55-44 decision to Bishop Mac in 2008. 

At Centennial Thursday, the hosts came back from a 17-15 deficit at the end of the first quarter with a dominating second quarter to get control of the game. 

"Just based on how the first quarter went, we switched up our defence," Emma Cain of Centennial said. "We just kept pushing knowing what our goals were from the very beginning." 

"We just changed our defensive strategy a bit and mixed it up on them and it worked," Centennial coach Toffer Treiguts said. 

The Spartans led 33-23 at halftime and 53-32 after the third quarter. Centennial's possessions in the fourth quarter were geared more toward taking time off the clock than adding to its lead. 

"It's definitely tough to not try to keep pushing, but we knew what position we were in and that we had some strong guards who could hold on to the ball," Cain said. 

"We move the ball well," Treiguts said. "When you're up at that stage, you've got to play smart basketball. That's why I always tell the girls that you've got to know the situation, you've got to know the score and what's going on on the court, and that's what we did."

Carter Godman struck for 24 points for Centennial while Cain had 13, Hannah Newman 12 and Emma Korol seven. 

Aida Raab, Rainey Psenicka and Erin Gerstenkorn each had eight points for Lourdes and Natasha Martinez netted seven. 

"We played our game and that's all we focused on as a team," Treiguts said. "We play what we need to do. We brought our systems and that's what we've got to do every single game that we play." 

The win for the Spartans combined with the loss by Ross means that Centennial will be the D10 representative in next week's four-team CWOSSA AAAA championship tournament at Waterloo. 

D10 Junior Semifinals
Bishop Mac 69, JF Ross 27

Bishop Mac led from the start as the Celtics were up 19-4 at the end of the first quarter, 29-17 at halftime and 61-21 after the third quarter. 

Grace Drewry led Bishop Mac with 20 points while Sophia Nash had 16, Lean Parisotto 11, Tian Wood eight and Julia Boyle seven.

Catie Terrey had 13 for Ross while Alessia Bolzon collected seven. 

Lourdes 34, Centennial 24

Hannah McIntosh led Lourdes with 17 points while Jada Codrington and Maddie McIntosh each had six. 

Lauren Zonneveld netted 13 for Centennial while Ashlan Best chipped in with four.

Lourdes and Bishop Mac are to start Saturday's championship doubleheader at 6 p.m. at the Mitchell Athletics Centre. 

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