St. Basil, St. Mary's claim NOSSA championships

It was a golden night for the St. Basil Saints and St. Mary's Knights basketball teams at the NOSSA championships.

The St. Basil Saints won the senior title and the St. Mary's Knights the junior crown at the Northern Ontario Secondary Schools Association AA Girls Basketball Championships on Saturday night in North Bay.

Meanwhile, at the NOSSA AAA Championships at St. Basil, Sudbury's LaSalle Lancers captured both the junior and senior championships with narrow wins over St. Basil in junior and North Bay's Scollard Hall.

In North Bay, the Saints completed an undefeated weekend with a 49-44 win over Sudbury's College Notre Dame Alouettes as Kaitlin DeBoer led the Saints with 12 points while Lara Stilin added 10.

With the win, the Saints now advance to the Ontario Federation of Schools Athletic Association (OFSAA) AA championships in North Bay beginning Thursday.

Sophie Mageau led Notre Dame with 18 points while Sophie Gingras added 10.

Saints head coach Ed Green felt the Alouettes stopped his team from playing their game.

"Both teams had plenty of heart. We also had a good battle against the Trojans this afternoon," Green told SooToday.com's sister site, BayToday.ca, in North Bay. "We hope to get a good seed for the OFSAA championships. Hopefully the seeding committee will look at us favourably."

St. Basil advanced to the title game with a close 52-48 win over North Bay's West Ferris Trojans in the semi-finals. Stilin led the Saints with 15 points while DeBoer added 13 .

St. Mary's cruised to the junior championship with a 33-16 win over North Bay's Chippewa Raiders.

Kira Favaro and Kathleen Thorburn paced the Knights with eight points each while Nina Connell replied with six for Chippewa.

Knights head coach Anthony D'Ettorre felt his team defense was the key to his team's win.

"They play it perfectly," said D'Ettorre. "But we also have some nice shooters and they did the job. I told the girls we came a long way and not to let this go."

Earlier, the Knights hammered Sudbury's Lo-Ellen Park 46-17 in the semi-final. Julia Burgess scored 10 points to lead the Knights.

(With files from BayToday.ca's Gerry Desormeau)