City alive with championship and award winners

BY SCOTT HUNTER HADDOW

Twelve local wrestlers earned Northern Ontario Secondary School's Athletics (NOSSA) championships last Friday at Macdonald-Cartier High School.

Their tremendous victories have stamped the wrestler's tickets to the Ontario Federation of School Athletics Association (OFSAA) Championships in Brampton from March 3-5.

Macdonald-Cartier's Teena Lalonde (41-kilograms), Celeste Rodrigues (67-kg) and Pat Queneville (67-kg); Chelmsford's Alyssa Unwin (47-kg), Andrea Mizuik (heavyweight) and Cody Demeau (72-kg); Champlain's Julie Vincent (54-kg); Sudbury Secondary's Marissa Brown (77-kg); and Lockerby's Alysia Scagnetti (57-kg), Derek Huffels (51-kg), John Gregoris (77-kg) and Ben Hotson (heavyweight) all won NOSSA gold in their respective weight divisions.

Chelmsford won the overall girls NOSSA crown, and Lockerby won the overall boys NOSSA crown.

It's been a wild time lately for high school sports, so here's a quick run down on recent city championship winners from the last week.

Boys basketball: Lasalle won both the junior and senior division I titles, while Chelmsford won the junior division II and L'Horizon won the senior division II crown. College Notre dame won the midget division.

Girls volleyball: St. Benedict won the junior division I title, while Marymount won the senior division I crown. Notre Dame won the midget

championship. L'Horizon won the junior division II title, and Chelmsford was victorious in the senior division II action.

In regular season hockey, St. Charles captured the boys division I title, and Lasalle won the boys division II crown. On the girls side, Lockerby won division I and Marymount won division II.

The Lockerby boys A and girls A teams won the curling regular season championship. The city curling finals go Tuesday, March 1, at the Copper Cliff Curling Club.

This weekend there are two NOSSA events being hosted in Sudbury. On Saturday, the NOSSA 'A' girls volleyball championship will be decided at Champlain and Confederation. Marymount and Confederation compete in the junior division, while Marymount and Champlain compete in the senior division.

At College Notre Dame, the NOSSA midget boys basketball championship will be decided on Saturday at Notre Dame. Both Notre Dame and Lo-Ellen will compete.

The Laurentian University women's basketball team is going back to the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East Championship game.

With thrilling victories over the Ryerson University Rams and the University of Toronto Blues last week, the Lady Vees are just one step away from

competing for a OUA basketball crown.

Last Wednesday, the Lady Vees dumped Ryerson 69-65 in a quarter-final contest at the Ben Avery Gymnasium.

Tierney Hoo and Cassandra Carpenter played important roles in the victory. Hoo scored 27 points, while Carpenter posted 24 points.

This win lead to another do-or-die game for the Lady Vees against Toronto last Friday.

Once again, the Lady Vees proved to be too much for the competition as they slammed Blues 70-58 in Toronto.

Again, Hoo led the charge for Laurentian by recording 19 points. Veteran Brianne Henry was also instrumental in the triumph, scoring 18 points.

On Saturday, Feb. 26, the Lady Vees will take on the University of Ottawa Gee Gees to decide the OUA East champion. The game is a rematch between the same two squads, who batted for the East crown last year, with Ottawa walking away with a 68-55 victory.

The Lady Vees and Gee Gees split their season series, with each team winning one game apiece.

Carpenter has been the spark plug for Laurentian against Ottawa in the two games. Carpenter posted 24 points in a 73-65 win back in November, and dumped in 17 points in a 66-52 loss to Ottawa back in early February.

The Lady Vees must be aware of Gee Gees' star Moriah Trowell, as she can score at will. Trowell averaged 23.5 points in the two games against Laurentian this season.

Trowell was the deciding factor against the Lady Vees in last year's playoff game by scoring 21 points.

Game time in Ottawa is slated for 6 pm.

In other big news, Carpenter was named OUA East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Carpenter was also named to the OUA East First All-Star squad. Hoo made the second team, and Amanda McConnell made the OUA East rookie team.

This Thursday, the Ontario College Athletic Association (OCAA) women's volleyball championship takes place at Nipissing University in North Bay.

The Cambrian College squad has been seeded first overall, thanks to their smashing 13-0 perfect regular season record.

Cambrian's first game is against Mohawk College on Thursday at 2 pm.