Algoma women win consolation title

BELLEVILLE –- The Algoma University Thunderbirds came away from the sixth annual fall classic here at Loyalist College this weekend with a consolation title.

The tournament wrapped up on Saturday evening in Belleville with the host Loyalist College Lancers dropping the tournament title game against the St. Lawrence Vikings. The Lancers dropped the title game by a 62-60 score.

AUC opened the tournament with a 62-58 loss to Loyalist in a game they led at halftime by two points. Danielle D’Ettorre led the way for Algoma with 28 points while Kristen Conway chipped in with 13 points.

Erin Spencer led Loyalist with 15 points while Kara Muhlhausen added 14. D’Ettorre added five assists in the loss.

On Saturday afternoon, AUC took a 39-28 lead into the half and never looked back as they defeated the Georgian Grizzlies 72-59. D’Ettorre again led Algoma with 23 points while Miranda Chaimbrone added 12 and Conway and Melissa Stumpo added eight points each.

Chieko Moriyama scored 20 points for Georgian and Dana Marley scored 14.

The win put AUC into the consolation final where they faced the Sheridan Bruins. D’Ettorre led all scorers with 33 points while Lara Stilin scored 18 as AUC defeated the Bruins 61-48. Caitlin Johannes scored eight points to lead Sheridan in the loss.

*** OTHER TOURNAMENT SCORES:

In other games from the weekend:

Day One: St.Lawrence defeated Fleming 76-26. Britt Pegg scored 21 points while Christine Shavreau added 15. Loyalist defeated Georgian 56-47 on the strength of Kara Muhlhausen’s 30 points. Andrea Little had 14 points for Georgian.

The other game from day one saw Sheridan topple Fleming 109-23. Fleming scored just one basket in the second half of the game. Sheridan saw five players hit double digits in points with Amanda Kelly leading the way with 28. Charlene Diaz and Jeralyn Espirtu scored 14 each while Maureen McIntyre and Veneshia Morrison scored 10 points each.

Day two: St. Lawrence opened the day with a 76-66 win over Sheridan to earn a championship berth. Shavrau scored 19 points while Rachel Niven scored 17 and Pegg added 16 in the win. Espirtu scored 19 points while Karina Patterson added 14 in the loss.

Georgian defeated Fleming 89-42. Amanda Watters scored 32 points and Marley added 16 in the win. Nikke Haseltine and Jess Barrieau scored 13 points each for Fleming.

In the championship game, Rachel Niven scored a game-high 29 points to lead St. Lawrence to the two-point victory over Loyalist. Shavrau added 14 points. Ellen McCracken scored 20 points while Larissa Dykstra added 18 points in the loss.

*** TOURNAMENT AWARDS:

The tournament all-star team is as follows:

• Jeralyn Espirtu (Sheridan) • Danielle D’Ettorre (Algoma) • Christine Shavrau (St. Lawrence) • Larissa Dykstra (Loyalist) • Rachel Niven (St. Lawrence) • Kara Muhlhausen (Loyalist)

Niven was named the tournament Most Valuable Player after three clutch performances in the tournament. Niven finished the tournament averaging 18 points per game over the three games. Loyalist’s Kara Muhlhausen was also in the running for the award as was D’Ettorre for Algoma.