Junior Girls: #1 Brantford CI beats #2 Lourdes To Take Crusader Classic Title

BCI/OLOL In Action Saturday

Our Lady of Lourdes HS in Guelph hosted their annual "Crusader Classic" Junior Girls' tournament this past weekend, and it was even more anticipated than usual given that my current top two CWOSSA ranked teams, Brantford CI and Lourdes, would be in attendance.

The tournament was a 6-team, pool play affair.  More on the championship final in a second, but here were the pool play and semifinal results:

Pool A
Lourdes 31, Christ The King (Georgetown) 20

St. John's (Brantford) 29, Christ The King 21

Lourdes 48, St. John's 26
OLOL:  Jada Codrington 23 (incl. 5 3's)
SJC:  Sophie Lawson 8

Pool B
Brantford CI 56, Bluevale 13

St. David 39, Bluevale 13

Brantford CI 55, St. David 11
BCI:  Kennedy Chisholm 18 (incl. 4 3's)

Semifinals
Lourdes 28, St. David 21
OLOL:  Jada Codrington 12
SDCSS:  Naomi Cruz 5

Brantford CI 53, St. John's 25
BCI:  Taylor Hill 18 (12 in the 1st Q)

Championship Final
In a defensive battle, the Brantford CI Mustangs took out the host Lourdes Crusaders by a 32-21 final score.

After BCI led 22-11 at the half, the second half was a hard-fought, tight defensive battle on both ends, with neither team giving the other many opportunities on the offensive end.

The 'Stangs made the most of the limited opportunities, going on an 8-1 "run" over the 3rd and early 4th quarters; a Taylor Hall three-pointer extended the BCI lead to 30-12 with 6:00 to play.

Lourdes didn't quit, and kept fighting until the finish -- going on a 9-2 run of their own.  Jada Codrington hit a three-pointer in the final minute to cut the deficit to 11, 32-21, which ended up being the final score.

Though both teams have very talented rosters, Kennedy Chisholm (BCI) and Codrington (OLOL) were two players of note. Chisholm in particular has the ability to contribute offensively either by scoring, or by finding teammates (she had a couple of nice "dime drops" to BCI post players for layup opportunities).  

Codrington, on the other hand, is an athletic wing forward who plays very solid defense and has great offensive abilities as well (as you've seen from some of her league scoring totals).  She makes great cuts off the ball to try to get herself open, and her shooting ability extends past the three-point stripe.

It was a great game to see, and might be the last time we'll see these two play this season --- Lourdes is an "AA" CWOSSA school, while Brantford CI is "AAA".