Ross Royals serve notice in senior girls’ basketball
GUELPH – Things tightened up a little at the top of the District 10 high school senior girls’ basketball standings Thursday as the Ross Royals proved that they were more than just pretenders.
The Royals upset the first-place Centennial Spartans 44-34, handing Centennial its first loss of the season.
The result put an end to Centennial’s 17-game win streak in D10 play as it was the first setback for the Spartans since they were edged 36-31 by the Guelph CVI Green Gaels in regular-season play Sept. 27 of last year.
The Spartans bounced back from that loss last year with eight consecutive wins to finish first in the six-team, all-Guelph league as the Centre Wellington Falcons of Fergus and Orangeville Bears didn’t participate. Centennial also won twice in the playoffs last year including a 52-49 edging of Ross in the championship match.
Sam Tesfit Ezra led the Royals with 16 points Thursday while Charlie Capper added 10.
Hayley McMillan had 25 for the Spartans.
Centennial remains in the top spot with a 9-1 record while Orangeville and GCVI, both winners on Thursday, closed the gap as both are at 8-2. The Royals are fourth at 6-4 and are followed by the Bishop Macdonell Celtics at 5-5, Lourdes Crusaders at 3-7, St. James Lions at 1-9 and Centre Wellington at 0-10.
Each team has four games remaining on its regular-season schedule.
Bishop Macdonell 65 Centre Wellington 21
Sydney Richardson led Bishop Mac with 24 points while Talya Kridli added 18.
Natalie Abra had 11 for Centre Wellington.
Orangeville 64 St. James 33
Emma Firth netted 34 points for Orangeville and Ayla Corrigale collected nine.
Arielle had 24 for St. James while Sam G. had three and Mara and Abby each had two.
Guelph CVI 54 Lourdes 34
Sam Aljoe struck for 18 points for GCVI.
Olivia Doucette connected for 12 for Lourdes.
Junior Girls’ Basketball
Bishop Macdonell 53 Centre Wellington 43
Vera Sewell collected 10 points for Bishop Mac.
Maggie Long had 18 for Centre Wellington.
Ross 51 Centennial 27
Rachel Van Milligan’s 25 points led Ross while Alex Blaschuk contributed 18.
Dana Hasson had 10 for Centennial and Sierra Bartlett chipped in with six.
Guelph CVI 44 Lourdes 43
Jenna Genidy netted 21 points to lead GCVI while Gurmen Judge followed with 12.
Jwokmeer Omot had 32 for Lourdes and Karlee Hemstreet added eight.
St. James 45 Orangeville 14
G. Jones had a game-high 14 points for St. James while A. Lewis added nine and S. Cummings had eight.
V. Rocha had four for Orangeville and A. Larocque netted three.
- Guelph Sports Journal