Colts, Knights wrap up NOSSA basketball

Turnovers can be costly and ball management turned out to be an issue for the Korah Colts on Saturday evening in the final of the 2018 Northern Ontario Secondary School Athletics (NOSSA) AA, held locally this weekend.

The Colts dropped a 61-49 decision to Lo-Ellen of Sudbury in the championship game Saturday at Korah.

Lo-Ellen will move on to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) AA championship, which opens on Nov. 21 in London, Ont.

Lo-Ellen held a six-point lead through one quarter before opening the game up with a late run to finish out the second quarter up by a 37-21 score.

“We didn’t value the basketball today,” said Korah Coach Winston Ivey. “We threw the ball away way too much and made it too tough for ourselves.”

“It’s one of the things we try to stress,” Ivey also said. “Turnovers killed us.”

Kate Dahmer of Lo-Ellen led all scorers in the game with 42 points.

“Defensively, we let her do what she wanted to do,” Ivey said. “If you do that, you’re never going to have a chance to win. We didn’t push her to go to her weak side.”

Taylor Elliott led Korah with 15 points while Gracie Sloss added 13 points in the contest.

The game was a rematch of the NOSSA final last year, a game in which Lo-Ellen beat Korah in Sudbury.

At the AAA NOSSA event in Sudbury, St. Mary’s won the senior title thanks to a sweep of Chippewa (North Bay) in a best-of-three series.

Back by a 16-point performance from Mercedes Mazzuca, St. Mary’s won the opener on Friday night by a 30-25 score. 

Jayme Newer added six points for the Knights.

In game two on Saturday, Paige Banton had 12 points as the Knights completed the sweep and sealed an OFSAA AAA berth with a 38-19 victory.

Alyssa Rizzo chipped in with 11 points in game two.

The AAA OFSAA event is also in London, beginning on Nov. 21.