Knights, Saints advance to OFSAA semi-finals (8 photos)

The St. Mary's Knights and the St. Basil Saints are in the midst of incredible runs at the Ontario Federation of Schools Athletic Association (OFSAA) senior girls basketball championships.

Both teams have advanced to the semi-final round in their respective tournaments and will, at the minimum, each have a shot at a provincial medal.

*** ST. MARY'S:

The Knights have made their way to the semis at the OFSAA 'AA' championships in Prescott after scoring a thrilling 48-46 win over the Holy Trinity Titans from Courtice on Friday night in the quarterfinals.

Kathleen Thorburn turned in another superb effort to lead the Knights, who held off a late rush by the Titans, with 21 points. Brittany Denneny contributed 10 points while Kira Favaro chipped in seven.

The second seeded Knights will now face the tournament's third seed in Parkside from Dundas in the semi-final on Saturday at 12 p.m. The winner will advance to the gold medal game at 8 p.m. while the loser will battle for bronze at 6 p.m.

In the their first game of the day on Friday afternoon, the Knights advanced to the quarterfinals with a 53-25 win over St. Thomas Aquinas.

Brittany Denneny had an excellent game both offensively and defensively to lead the Knights with 13 points. Thorburn and Kyleigh Binkley also had strong games with nine points apiece. Kira Favaro had a strong game defensively and contributed seven points while Jen Thibeault, coming off the bench, drained an additional seven points.

To view pictures from today's games, click the link to the photo gallery found at the bottom of this story.

*** ST. BASIL:

The St. Basil Saints find themselves two victories away from an OFSAA 'A' provincial championship after scoring a pair of wins on Friday in Sturgeon Falls.

The Saints opened the day with a 47-23 win over Toronto's Sir Sandford Fleming before taking care of Windsor's Ecole secondaire L'Essor 51-36 in the quarterfinals on Friday evening.

The third seeded Saints now face the tournament's second seed in Hamilton's Hillfield Strathallan College in the semi-final round on Saturday at 11:45 a.m. The winner will advance to the gold medal game on Saturday at 7 p.m. while the loser will battle for the bronze medal at 5 p.m.

Samantha Rainone paced the Saints with 21 points in the win over L'Essor and Adrianna Bruni added nine while Lara Stilin and Kristy Aloe added eight each.

Rainone scored 12 points in the win over Sir Sandford Fleming while Katie Larue added 10 and Courtney Dubas seven.

*** JR. COUGARS TRYOUTS:

The Sault Jr. Cougars basketball club will be holding try outs for girls in grades nine and 10. The tryouts will be held on Saturday Dec. 10 and Sunday Dec. 11 at St. Basil from 5 - 7 p.m. The team will be coached by Danielle Marchand.

***

(Photos submitted by Vic Favaro.)