St. Mary's, St. Basil open OFSAA with victories (8 photos)

The St. Mary's Knights senior girls basketball squad opened the Ontario Federation of Schools Athletic Association (OFSAA) AA Championship with a thrashing of Orillia's Patrick Fogarty on Thursday afternoon in Prescott.

Kira Favaro poured in 16 points to lead the Knights to a 59-24 victory to open the tournament on a positive note. Kathleen Thorburn drained 15 points for the Knights including 12 of those points on three-point shots. Jen Thibeault added nine points and Kyleigh Binkley eight.

The Knights, who entered the provincial championships as the tournament's second seed, will now receive a bye in the next round of action and will face the winner of Friday morning's contest between St. Thomas Aquinas and Ottawa St. Paul at 3 p.m.

A win in that game would advance the Knights to the quarterfinal round on Friday at 9 p.m. while a loss would eliminate St. Mary's from the tournament.

Additional photos from the game, which were submitted by Vic Favaro, can be accessed by clicking the link at the bottom of this story.

*** ST. BASIL:

In Sturgeon Falls, the St. Basil Saints started the OFSAA 'A' championships with a solid 66-36 win over Barrie's ESC Nouvelle-Alliance on Thursday afternoon.

Samantha Rainone led the Saints, who are the tournament's third seed, with 23 points while Kristy Aloe added 11 and Lara Stilin 10.

The Saints now advance to face Toronto's Sir Sandford Fleming on Friday at 10:30 a.m. A win there would send the Saints to the quarterfinal game at 5:30 p.m. while a loss would relegate the Saints to the consolation round at 2:30 p.m.

*** 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.

***