The St. Basil senior Saints and Korah junior Colts capped their magnificent local high school girls basketball season seasons with city championships on Saturday night.
For the Saints, the 41-26 victory for the Korah Colts marked the third consecutive city championship for the senior program.
St. Basil has elected to play in the Northern Ontario Secondary Schools Association (NOSSA) 'AA' championships in Elliot Lake this coming weekend.
The Colts will also play in NOSSA competition at the 'AAA' playdowns in Sudbury this coming weekend.
Samantha Rainone drained 10 points to pace the Saints in their win while Lara Stilin added nine and Adrianna Bruni eight. Katriana Houpalainen replied with eight for the Colts.
In the championship, the Saints grabbed an early lead and never trailed again leading by quarter scores of 11-3, 21-15 and 33-22.
"We wanted to concentrate on good defense," said Saints skipper Jim Pedatella. "We felt that if we played good defense than we could control the tempo of the game. We limited them to mostly perimeter shots and it helped that (Korah) weren't making as many shots as they usually do.
"We were preparing for a very competitive game but Korah is that type of team. But everyone of our players filled their roles tonight. They all have jobs that are laid out for them. Some know their job is to box out while another is to come and grab the boards. Our players are aware that some players will get the bulk of the shots but hey accept those roles and work very hard at them in practise."
Colts head coach Gary Cormier echoed Pedatella's comments by saying that his struggled with shots that normally fall for the team's sharp shooters.
"We did everything we had planned to do in our game plan. I thought we were able to neutralize their fast break in the first half. We were only down by six at the half but a couple of mental breakdowns early in the third quarter allowed them to take a 10 point lead and then it's a continuous fight to get back in the game.
"We had a lot of shots on another night we would hit. It's almost like we live by the three or die by the three. We had 75 threes all year long including one girl with 40 but they just weren't falling. There is no fault from our team because they worked hard all game."
Cormier also feels that playing a team like the Saints, who haven't lost a local game in three seasons, can cause players to tighten up from the will to win and not so much from a psychological idea that a team can't be beaten.
"I think sometimes you want it so much that you press too much and try to do things you don't normally do because you want to win. We've had trouble with them for three or four years now and that fuels the desire to win."
*** JUNIOR DIVISION:
Stellar play down the stretch by Sarah Fortais helped lead the Korah Colts to a 37-34 victory over the St. Mary's Knights.
The Colts will also join the senior Saints for the NOSSA 'AA' championships in Elliot Lake. St. Mary's will make the trek to the NOSSA 'AAA' playdowns in Sudbury.
Kayla Odorizzi led the junior Colts with 21 points while Christina Fortais added five. Shana Brown scored 16 points for the Knights and Jessica Salituri added six.
The teams entered the second half of play tied at 22-22 and continued their seesaw battle until the Colts grabbed some momentum down the stretch.
Fortais gave the Colts a 35-32 lead with 2:49 remaining the fourth quarter with a free throw before coming up with a huge block defensively a minute later.
The Knights remained resilient as Nicole Marasco hit a lay-up with 45.3 seconds remaining to pull her team to within a point at 35-34.
But Fortais sealed the win with a bucket with 30 seconds remaining.
Colts head coach Donnie Muto was very impressed with his club's ability to pick up their game with star Christina Medaglia playing the game with strep throat and Fortais playing with an injured ankle.
"(Medaglia) only scored three points tonight but I think her leadership really came through. I think her presence on the floor showed that everyone had to work hard. We went to Fortais down low late in the game and she came through for us.
"Both teams worked hard out there but I think we were able to get a few breaks late in the game that made the difference."
*** REFEREE'S AWARD:
Korah Colts guard Katrina Huopalainen was named the recipient of the Referee's Award, which is presented annually to the senior division player best combining sportsmanship and ability.
Other nominess were Lara Stilin (St. Basil), Elise Currier (St. Mary's), Vanesa Chaimbrone (Mount St. Joseph), Karli Campbell (Sir James Dunn), Holly Maskell (White Pines) and Christine Thayer (Bawating).
A picture of Huopalainen with her award can be found in the photo gallery link at the bottom of this story.
PHOTO: Junior city champion Korah Colts.