D8 Finals: Cavs, Phoenix Complete Perfect Seasons

Things were tight for a while in both championship finals on Monday evening at Resurrection, but the cream eventually rose to the top with the Woodland Cavaliers (Junior) and Resurrection Phoenix (Senior) capturing District 8 titles.

On the junior side, the victory for Woodland marked the school's first-ever title in girls' basketball, and their first overall basketball title since D8's first season in 1990-91 (Woodland Midget Boys).

WCHS started slowly, only scoring 2 points in an opening quarter that ended 5-2 for St. Benedict.  However, they clamped down on defense in the second quarter, going on a 10-0 run to head into halftime up 12-5.

Both teams woke up offensively to start the second half, with nearly as many points scored in the first half of the third quarter (14) as the entire first half.  By the end of the 3rd, Woodland had extended their lead to double digits, 24-13.

St. Benedict was able to cut things to within 5 points (25-20) early in the fourth, before a 7-0 Woodland run essentially put things away, en route to a 33-23 final score.

Although much has been made of Woodland's impressive duo of Jenna Duimering and Sydney VanderHoef, it was Alanna Parker -- who hadn't been among Woodland's leading scorers in any game on the D8 website -- picking a great time to have a big game, as she led all scorers with 13 points.  Duimering added 10, while VanderHoef scored 8.

Trinity Lombardi (10), Angie Tran (5) and Emma Croswell (4) were the top scorers for the Saints.

Senior
The Resurrection Phoenix completed their perfect D8 season, winning their second consecutive Senior crown and fourth in the last five years.

However, there were some nervous moments early on for Rez fans in attendance as the Saints stuck around for the opening quarter and a half.  The Phoenix only led 14-12 before a 10-0 run in the final 3:30 of the second quarter gave them some breathing room and a 24-12 lead at the break.

The Phoenix extended their lead to 17 points on a Meghan Sharpe put-back which made the score 32-15 late in the 3rd quarter.  

St. Benedict did chip into things in a fourth quarter that saw a lot of liberal substitutions, keeping things respectable in a 44-34 final score.

Meghan Sharpe (11) and Buse Bin-Edward (8) led the way for Rez, while Alex Webb, a grade nine, led SBCSS with 10.  Elizabeth D'Souza added 9 for the Saints.

With the win, Resurrection advances to the "AAA" CWOSSA tournament this coming weekend in Waterloo.