Senior Girls: St. John's Girls Place 2nd at Prestigious St. Mary's Tipoff

All-Star Kaitlyn Overeem

The St. Mary's Tipoff tournament in Hamilton is considered one of the more prestigious Senior Girls' tournaments in the province, drawing many of the top teams in Ontario for the annual event.

This year's edition was no exception, and the St. John's Green Eagles of Brantford certainly impressed en route to their silver medal finish.

The event was set up as pool play event, with the top team in each pool advancing to the championship semifinals.

St. John's went 3-0 in their pool, defeating Hamilton Bishop Ryan (61-21) before winning against two of the top teams in the GTA, Brampton Campion (66-36) and Toronto Oakwood (54-39).

This advanced SJC to the semifinals, where they were again impressive in dispatching Hamilton St. Thomas More, 51-29.

The championship final against hosts Hamilton St. Mary's (who have won OFSAA the last five years at either the AAA or AAAA level) was a rematch of last year's AAA OFSAA final, won by St. Mary's 57-40.  This time around, St. Mary's was a narrow 56-53 winner over the Green Eagles.

Given that St. Mary's returned all their starters from a year ago, St. John's has to feel pretty good about their performance against the top-ranked team in the province.  

The Green Eagles also placed two members on the tournament all-star team --- Kendra Van Leeuwen and Kaitlyn Overeem.