WHITE PINES GIRLS LOSE CLOSE ONE

SUDBURY -- The Sault's White Pines Wolverines and the North Bay West Ferris Trojans played their collective hearts out in the championship game of the College Notre-Dame senior girls high school basketball tournament held here Saturday night. But a shoddy refereeing display that was so one-sided against the Sault team that tournament convenor Chris Pakkala felt compelled to issue an apology, tainted an otherwise outstanding game. In the end, West Ferris -- which is in first place in the North Bay league -- emerged with a 41-39 win over White Pines on a basket with 9.5 seconds remaining that was allowed to stand despite a glaring travelling violation that was evident to just about everyone in the Cambrian College gymnasium except the two Sudbury referees. While West Ferris played very well throughout, the loss was a tough one to take for the hard-working White Pines girls, who trailed by as many as eight points in the third quarter only to tie the score with 17 seconds left in the game on Jessica Gillespie's second clutch three-pointer of the fourth quarter. Unbelievably, no less than three White Pines players -- Shannon House, Ali Bodnar and Holly Maskell -- fouled out of the game, while a fourth, scoring leader Amanda Evans, played the final quarter with four fouls. House and Bodnar were the leaders of the Wolverines' trap defence, while Maskell contributed 22 points off the bench over three games of the tournament. Sudbury referees have historically been severely criticized by Sault coaches who've travelled here for tournaments over the years and their work in the White Pines-West Ferris game did little to improve their poor image. On a very-positive side, the game itself was well played and featured frenzied action from beginning to end. Alyssa McLaine led West Ferris with 16 points, while Crystal Gore added seven. For White Pines, Evans led the way with 13 points and Maskell added eight. The Wolverines opened the tournament on Friday night with an easy 65-24 win over Sturgeon Falls Northern. White Pines outscored their opponents 42-16 in the second half as all 10 players in the line-up scored points. Evans had 20 points to lead the Wolverines, while Katie Healey added 13, Maskell had eight, and House and Amanda Towell had six each. White Pines then made it to Saturday night's championship game by disposing of North Bay St. Joseph/Scollard Hall earlier in the day, 57-30. Evans had 14 points for the Wolverines, while Laura Sharp added 12 and Healey and Maskell contributed eight apiece.