Article By: Rob Massey
GUELPH — New champions were crowned as both
defending champs fell in the District 10 high school girls' basketball
finals Saturday night at the Mitchell Athletics Centre.
The Centennial Spartans defeated the Bishop
Macdonell Celtics 47-35 in the senior final after Bishop Mac had upended
the Lourdes Crusaders 49-31 in the junior final.
In the senior final, the Centennial girls
had never been in a D10 basketball final before, but that didn't show.
They showed little in the way of jitters as
they shut down the defending two-time champion Celtics in the second
half to claim the school's first D10 senior title since 1998.
"I was so nervous," Centennial's Emma Cain
said. "A lot of us were so nervous ahead of time because we'd never won
D10 or even gotten to (the D10 final before). It was really big for us.
We did feel a lot of pressure, but we were able to push through it."
The teams were tied 8-8 at the end of the
first quarter and Bishop Mac was ahead 17-15 at halftime. Centennial
held the Celtics to four points in the third quarter as the Spartans
surged ahead 29-21 by the end of the quarter.
"We knew what their defence was coming in
and how we could exploit it and we did a really good job of doing that,"
Cain said. She led all scorers with 13 points.
"We had a game plan and we executed pretty
well," Centennial coach Toffer Trieguts said. "First half not as well,
but the second half the girls listened to what we needed to do and they
stepped up. They really brought some energy and they played a really
good second half. That was important."
"Their offensive and defensive schemes were
tailored to our weakest points as a basketball team," Bishop Mac coach
Karen Bremner said. "That's how we lost our first league game. They've
figured it out and now we have to deal with it. We got out-coached,
out-played, out-everything today."
The Spartans made an adjustment for the second half that stymied the Celtics.
"We were aggressive and we ran a set that
worked well for us," Treiguts said. "We did make an adjustment.
"It was mostly offence, the defence stayed
the same. We didn't bring in anything different. We were confident in
our girls and their athletic ability to stop them."
Emma Korol had nine points for the Spartans
while Carter Godman and Hannah Newman had eight apiece, Halle Milne
seven and Erin Mackey two.
Dianne Priamo's 12 points led Bishop Mac
while Ellie Young had nine, Christine Sullivan six, Marcela Gadzinska
four and Rachel DiGravio and Tianna Sullivan two each.
Both teams advance to CWOSSA championship
tournaments. Centennial moves on to the AAAA tournament at Waterloo Nov.
14 and 15. Top two teams in that tournament will gain berths in the
OFSAA AAAA provincial championship tournament that's to be held in
Guelph Nov. 20 to 22.
Bishop Mac goes on to the CWOSSA AA
tournament at Owen Sound Nov. 12 and 13. It's an eight-team tournament
this year, up two teams from last year.
Junior
Bishop Mac won its first D10 junior crown
since 2006 with the triumph over the Lourdes Crusaders, the defending
champions and winners of three of the previous four championship games.
"It was a tight game and I fully expected
that," Bishop Mac coach Brittany Green said. "Throughout the regular
season we won both of the games in overtime so we're very evenly
matched."
With extra time being required to decide a
winner in both of the regular-season matches between the teams, this one
could be considered a runaway. The Celtics had a slim 9-8 lead at the
end of the first quarter before extending their advantage to 26-20 at
halftime. The lead grew to 39-28 by the end of the third quarter.
"Tonight's game was just a reflection of the
whole season," Green said. "We've got a really deep bench. I can bring
in anyone and sub anyone in. The girls just played as if it was going to
be our last game and thankfully it's not going to be. We didn't do
anything different. We're a really skilled team and I can pull on
anyone."
For both teams, the crowd — the Mitchell
Athletics Centre was half full — will have been the largest they played
in front of this season. That brought nerves into play.
"With junior girls it's definitely tough
having these crowds," Green said. "We don't get a lot of fans out in the
regular season. Even in the semifinals, they adjusted well to having a
bigger crowd. I think they did a great job of blocking it out, all that
excess background noise. They didn't take anything personally, they just
went out and played their game which is really fantastic."
Grace Drewry had nine points to top Bishop
Mac's scoring list. Sophia Nash added eight while Rachael Guanzon, Julia
Boyle and Tian Wood each netted six. Leah Parisotto and Ainsley Andres
had five each and Julia Mlodzik collected two.
Jada Codrington had a game-high 11 points
for Lourdes while Jessica Mathieu followed with six. Maddie McIntosh
contributed four while Hannah McIntosh, Robyn Hudecki and Catherine
Edwins had two apiece and Olivia Roberts had one.
The title win by Bishop Mac also gave the
Celtics a berth in the CWOSSA AA tournament at Owen Sound Nov. 12 and
13.
