Basketball playoffs
PEISAA senior AAA gold medal game combatants determined
The P.E.I. School Athletic Association senior AAA basketball semifinals at UPEI Thursday evening.
It was a basketballer’s feast Thursday at UPEI as the Prince Edward Island School Athletic Association unleashed eight schools in the AAA boys and girls provincial basketball semifinals.
After the smoke cleared the Three Oaks Axewomen outgunned Westisle 60-44 and moved into Tuesday’s final versus Charlottetown Rural, which pounded Colonel Gray 67-27 to reach the title game.
On the boys’ side, Colonel Gray thumped Westisle 85-48 and face Charlottetown Rural for the provincial crown after the Raiders defeated Three Oaks 70-56 to make the championship final.
Girls
Axewomen 60, Wolverines 44 Three Oaks jumped out to a 15-2 edge in the first quarter and never looked back in the win.
By halftime the Axewomen had a 51-28 edge.
“The game plan was to play how we can, play good defence,” said Three Oaks senior guard Georgia Baker, who finished with 13 points and four rebounds. “Our offence comes off good defence and I think we showed that today.” Westisle showed some spunk in the second half and closed the gap to 15 midway through the fourth quarter, thanks to forward Rickilee MacLeod and guard Martina Gallant, who drained 12 and 14 points, respectively.
But Three Oaks never let down and the lead was too much to overcome.
“We tried to play a quarter at a time and not worry about the final,” said Baker. “We had to focus on this game before we got there.” Westisle’s Madison MacKinnon had a game-high eight blocks, while Lyndsay Callaghan nabbed a game-high seven rebounds.
Raiders 67, Colonels 27 Like the first semi, tough defence led to a big lead and a win as Charlottetown Rural pitched a 17-0 first-quarter shutout over Colonel Gray and used the momentum for a 29-6 halftime advantage.
And that, said Rural guard Lauren Reid, was the key to the win.
“We came out really hard and aggressive on offence and defence and when we kept them from scoring in the first quarter we knew we were doing well,” said Reid, who had 12 points in the first half and finished with 16.
“Our game plan was (all about) defence. They have a couple of players we wanted to lock down and if we did that the rest would take care of itself.” Ashley Plaggenhoef drained 13 points for Rural, including 2-for-2 in three pointers, while Lexi MacInnis chipped in eight points and a game-high seven rebounds.
Francis Alverez paced Colonel Gray with 10 points. Sam Strain added a team-high six boards.
Boys
Colonels 85, Wolverines 48 Colonel Gray capitalized on turnovers caused from its relentless pressing defence to run out to a 29-11 lead at the end of the opening quarter and rode stingy defence to a berth in the final.
That lead increased to 48-28 at the halftime and, after Westisle’s three-point third quarter made it 71-31, the Colonels coasted in the final frame en route to the win.
Matt Connolly, who sparked Gray’s first half assault with 17 points and finished with 20 in limited second-half action, said the desire to maintain the big lead and head coach J. Hammer’s prompting kept the Colonels online.
“We took the early lead in the first quarter and the bench came on and we still played on defence. It was a good game and a good team win,” said Connolly, who was 3-for-3 from behind the three-point line. “Coach kept us motivated. He always uses a few tricks to keep us playing defence.”
Alex Campbell had 16 points for Colonel Gray, while John Alex Vos chipped in 12 points.
Westlsle’s Jacob Rayner led all scorers in points (23) and rebounds (8). MacKenzie Brennan contributed 10 points and five boards, while Elon Wilkie had nine points.
Raiders 70, Axemen 56
In the best game of the day, Charlottetown Rural followed the trend and jumped out to 15-4 lead. But Three Oaks didn’t fold under the Rural press defence and fought back to a 19-10 first quarter deficit then found its game and brought the score to a manageable 34-30 shortfall at halftime.
However, Adam Ryan keyed a 14-2 run in the third with six straight points to keep the Axemen at bay and sent Rural into Tuesday’s title game.
For Ryan, who finished with 24 points and seven rebounds, winning was a matter of following the map laid out by Rural head coach Trent Whitty and the coaching staff.
“We wanted to run a lot of zone and get out on transition. (Mission accomplished) I’d say,” said Ryan. “We came out with a lot of energy and the rotation guys, the young guys, stepped up and got it done.” Rural’s Zack Wall chipped in 18 points, while Parker Roche had 12 points and a game-high eight boards.
Logan MacDougall and Cameron Paynter led the Axemen attack with 18 and 16 points, respectively. Ethan Boyd had seven points and tied Roche in rebounds with eight.