Saints nab an upset against Thunder

The St. Clair College Saints are through to the medal round after an impressive win over the Algonquin College Thunder from Ottawa in quarter-final play on Thursday at the OCAA women’s basketball championship in Kingston.

The Saints, who are ranked No. 7 in Ontario, built a 22-point lead after three quarters and beat the Thunder, who won the East Division and are ranked No. 3 in the province, by an 88-79 score. “Huge win for the program,” Saints head coach Andy Kiss said.

The Saints shot 56.5 per cent from the field against the Thunder, which included 60.9 per cent from three-point land. Jana Kucera led the Saints’ offence with 35 points, which included seven three-point shots.

St. Clair will take on Durham, which is ranked No. 6 in the province and upset No. 2 Humber on Thursday, in Friday’s semifinal.

EXPRESS FALL

The Windsor Express fell 126-123 on the road to the Sudbury Five on Thursday in NBL of Canada play.

The Express (16-15) got 31 points from guard Chris Jones, while Juan Pattillo had 26 points and 13 rebounds against the Five (18-16). Windsor also got 15 points and 10 rebounds from Ryan Anderson, while Ty Walker added 14 points and 11 rebounds.

ALL-STAR RECOGNITION

St. Clair Saints guard David Gomez Jr. was named a second-team all-star in the OCAA West Division on Thursday. Gomez was fourth in the province with an average of 24.2 points per game and set a new school record with 483 total points. He was also third in the conference in assists with an average of 5.3 per game. On the women’s side, Jana Kucera was named a first-tam all-star in the OCAA West Division after leading the conference in scoring with an average of 20.2 points per game. Teammate Keirsten Tomkins was named to the West Division all-rookie team. She averaged 8.6 points per game and led the Saints with an average of 7.2 rebounds per game.