D10 Junior, Senior Finals Set For Tonight at U of G

Looking forward to heading to Guelph tonight for the D10 Junior and Senior Girls' basketball finals, which both look like a couple of exciting games.

In fact, in both the Junior & Senior ranks, the teams participating split their season series (1-1).

Junior - (1) OLOL vs. (2) BMAC
The junior event features two teams that have been among the top three in the CWOSSA rankings most of the year, the Lourdes Crusaders and the Bishop Macdonell Celtics.

It's also a rematch of last year's D10 championship final, which was won by Bishop Mac, 49-31.

This year's version of these teams were far and away the class of the D10 league this season.  Excluding the two games played against each other, Lourdes defeated their opponents by an average of 25.2 points per contest, while the Celts won their games by a whopping 37.2 points each time out.

Both times these squads played each other during the season, the games were tight, with Lourdes edging the Celts by 6 in the first game before Bishop Mac pulled out a 3-point win in the return game on their home floor.

Although both teams have solid depth on their respective rosters, Jada Codrington (OLOL) and Grace Drewry (BMAC) are certainly two players to keep an eye on tonight.

Codrington is an athletic slasher with a great skill-set on both ends of the floor; she has been putting up 20+ points regularly during the season.

Drewry, meanwhile, is an impressive inside-outside threat for the Celts and can just as easily post up as she can hit an outside jumper.

There's a lot on the line tonight, with the winner of this game also getting D10's "AA" CWOSSA berth.  I think we see a bit of a lower-scoring game more in line with the second time these teams played, although that certainly wouldn't make it any less interesting.

My Pick:  Bishop Mac 38, Lourdes 35

Senior - (1) GCVI vs. (2) JF Ross
Like the junior teams, these teams split their regular season meetings although they were both double-digit affairs.  Interestingly enough, both teams lost on their home floor with the Gaels posting a big 43-21 win in mid-October before the Royals won the regular season finale, 42-32.

Both teams had their work cut out for them in the semifinals, with the top-seeded Green Gaels outlasting the #4 Centennial Spartans 49-44, and Ross getting past Bishop Mac 48-36, setting up tonight's tilt at the University of Guelph.

With balanced rosters, including a handful of possible double-digit scorers on each team, it is anyone's guess as to who will step up on the offensive end for each team tonight.

For Ross, Maddy Darling has generally been their most consistent scoring option, averaging 16.3 PPG over their last 3 games, including 22 points in the regular-season finale against GCVI.

Of course, Mya Leacock and Ana Vuckovic have also both had some big games at times during the regular season for the Royals and are double-digit threats.

On the GC side, Sydney Wilson has been their offensive leader, and she was excellent in the semifinals with a 25-point effort.  Emina Bektic, Jenna Falconer and Abbey MacIntyre are the Gaels' other top threats. 

Perhaps tonight's biggest thing to note is that it's been 46 years -- yes, 46 years -- since GCVI last won a Senior Girls' D10 title, way back in 1969.  They've had recent junior success, including a 2010 D10 title, but it's been a while since they tasted victory on the senior side.

This one should be closer than their regular season meetings; coin-flip as far as the winner is concerned in my mind, but I'll go with Ross who has been a bit hotter down the stretch.

My Pick:  JF Ross 48, Guelph CVI 44