WCSSAA Junior: Tuesday Quarterfinals

For the most part, the better teams advanced through the qualifying round of the WCSSAA playoffs last week (#10 GPSS was the only lower-seeded team to advance), setting up the following quarterfinal matchups on Tuesday:

(1) WODSS vs. (8) Galt
During the regular season, the Ghosts kept things respectable against the league's top seed, piling up 36 points in a 57-36 WODSS win.  Of course, that was at home and this time, the game will be in WO's home gym.

Both teams have displayed nice depth throughout the season, with Galt's Azaliah Colqunoun, Charlie Ridge and Juleyanna Dunlop scoring (fairly regularly) in double-digits throughout the season.  W-O, of course, can have any number of players do the same while being led most commonly by Rachel Beitz, MacKeely Shantz, and Madeline Woolvett.

Even with a loss, Galt can still be WCSSAA's representative at "AA" CWOSSA provided that #10 Glenview Park also loses their game to #3 SJAM.

(Edit:  I've been advised that there will be a qualifying game on Thursday between GPSS/GCI for the berth)

Pick:  WODSS 52, Galt 28

(2) KCI vs. (10) Glenview Park
KCI was a 50-20 winner during the regular season at home, with Grace Mickie outscoring the Panthers on her own by pouring in a 23-point effort.

Yang Oyual has been the top scorer for the Panthers much of the season, and for them to have a chance in this one she'll need to have an effort like she did against Southwood in the qualifying game (17 points).  

Pick:  KCI 51, Glenview Park 25

(3) SJAM vs. (6) Grand River
Clearly the "game of the day" as far as I'm concerned -- the Rens were my "darkhorse" entering the playoffs based upon having arguably the most difficult schedule in the WCSSAA league.  All told, they had to play all of the top 5 teams and were quite competitive against some of the top squads -- including a 1-point loss to these same Highlanders to end the season (51-50).

It will be interesting to see if we see a similar game on Tuesday; the 'Landers aren't usually known for piling up the points (51 was a season high whereas GRCI eclipsed the 50-point mark several times during the season).  I'd think SJAM would be more comfortable with a bit of a slower-paced game in the high 30s or 40s.

Madison Sherman (SJAM - 19) and Kayla Ambrose (GRCI - 15) where the high scorers last time out, but these teams have several girls that can crack the double-digit mark.  

Pick:  SJAM 46, Grand River 39

(4) Elmira vs. (5) Cameron Heights
While SJAM and Grand River played last week, the Lancers and Gaels met way back on the league's opening day, a 42-33 EDSS win that saw Lancer star Natalie Mayer pour in 21 points in the process.

Obviously, the Gaels will need to do a better job containing her as she is certainly capable of some big scoring efforts (29 vs. GRCI & 26 vs. GCI among others).

Zoe Hoyte, Mariah Zervos and Quinn MacPherson lead a Gaels team that is quite balanced -- in fact, Cameron picked up four wins this year while not having a single player score more than 10 points in that particular game.

Pick:  Elmira 34, Cameron 31