Knights, Lancers, Panthères OFSAA bound

Putting together a very impressive weekend, the SDSSAA representatives will send three senior girls basketball teams to OFSAA championships this weekend, including a pair of squads which returned home with NOSSA banners.

After falling in the city finals to Lasalle, the Lo-Ellen Park Knights made amends in North Bay, capturing the NOSSA AAA crown with a 40-29 win over the Korah Colts on Friday.

Just as they had all tournament, Katryna Rogerson and Andrea Zulich led the charge offensively for the Knights with 14 points each. Tori Ivey countered with a game-high 15-point performance in a losing cause for the Colts from Sault Ste. Marie.

Coach Jen Bourget was especially pleased with the overall team defence, as Lo-Ellen surrendered an average of less than 30 points a game. The Knights opened the four-team event against Korah as well, recording a 49-34 win as Zulich (22) and Rogerson (11) accounted for more than two-thirds of their team's scoring.

Their berth in the NOSSA final was earned thanks to a comfortable 60-26 victory over the Widdifield Wildcats, with the one-two punch of Zulich (16) and Rogerson (16) in fine form once again.

The Knights will leave on Wednesday to compete at the OFSAA AAA championships in Windsor.

The Knights will be joined on the highway by the Lasalle Lancers, who earned their trip to Kingsville (just outside of Windsor) in a do-or-die game Saturday in North Bay.

With the St. Mary's Knights (Sault Ste. Marie) dropping out of NOSSA last week, organizers opted to have the Marymount Regals and West Ferris Trojans play in one semifinal, with the winner moving directly on to face the Lancers in the gold-medal encounter the next day.

"It was one of those things where you wonder whether to come down the previous day or not," noted Lasalle head coach Mitch Lalonde. "I decided to go and scout the Marymount-West Ferris game on Friday, and then decided to just leave at 8 a.m. on Saturday for our 3 p.m. final."

Despite some initial nervousness, the local basketball powerhouse settled in nicely, besting West Ferris 47-24, thanks in large part to a very balanced attack. Kennedy Cashmore (14), Kristen Ferguson (13) and Kendra Muffo (13) all hit double digits for the winners, who will be making a third straight trip to the provincial championships, having claimed the consolation final one year ago.

The Macdonald-Cartier Panthères dropped a 36-16 decision to the Algonquin Barons in the NOSSA A final in Sault Ste. Marie, but will advance to OFSAA given that the northern region secured two berths at the 2014 championships.

The third-place finishers in league play locally stayed closer in their initial round-robin battle with the Barons, falling 38-33, but rebounded to knock off the White Pines Wolverines 35-29.

That victory not only provided them with a rematch against Algonquin, but also secured their trip to Cornwall later this week. Megan Desormeaux and Alexis Belanger led the Panthères in their victory over White Pines, with eight and seven points respectively.

Finally, Odyssée took home gold at the NOSSA B tournament in North Bay, downing the Champlain Requins 39-28 in the final. Kyndra Young showed the way for Champlain with nine points, as the Requins handed Odyssée their first ever loss in B championship play, edging the eventual champions 27-22 in round-robin action.