Saints' hoops teams in cruise control

The St. Clair Saints men's and women's basketball teams easily advanced to OCAA quarterfinal play.

The West Division-champion men's team rolled to a 103-60 win over La Cite at the Sportsplex and will now host Centennial on Saturday in quarterfinal play.

Chad Vincent-simon had 20 points to lead the Saints while Jesiah Deerr added 14 points. Mazin Tiea, Andrew Loyuk and Darnelle Peddie each chipped in with 11 points.

The women's team won 75-37 over Durham and will host George Brown in quarterfinal play on Saturday. Kaitlyn Overeem finished with 17 points for the Saints, who forced 26 turnovers. Janae Smith added 15 points and 10 rebounds while Ania Buklarewicz had 15 points and Shae-lyn Murphy finished with 13 points.

FIVE-SET HEARTBREAK

It was heartbreak for both the St. Clair Saints men's and women's volleyball teams, who each fell in five-set OCAA quarterfinal matches.

The men held a 2-1 lead on the road against Centennial, but fell 3-2 by scores of 25-23, 24-26, 1925, 25-21 and 15-12.

Outside hitter Kale Wilkinson had 16 kills while middle Zach Walls finished with eight kills.

Playing at home, the women's team also held a 2-1 lead before falling 3-2 to Durham, 25-12, 1325, 17-25, 25-15 and 15-12.

Middle Geneva Huisman had 15 kills and freshman outside hitter Brianne Hobbin finished with 16 kills and 15 digs.

LANCERS EYE PLAYOFFS

OUA playoff season kicks into high gear for the Windsor Lancers this week.

After completing a two-game sweep of the Lakehead Thunderwolves with a 7-2 win at home on Friday, the men's hockey team opens a best-of-three West Division semifinal series against the Brock Badgers at home on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the women's team closed the season with a 2-1 road win over the top-seeded Guelph Gryphons. That gave Windsor the final OUA playoff spot and the club will open a best-of-three series in Guelph on Wednesday.

The Lancer women's basketball team got back to .500 (11-11) by sweeping a pair of games from Algoma to finish the season. Windsor hits the road Wednesday to face Guelph (15-7) in a first-round match. The Windsor men's volleyball team (13-7) is also on the road against Guelph (15-5) on Saturday for a quarterfinal match.

FLYERS EDGE RAIDERS

The Leamington Flyers built a five-goal lead in the third period and held on for a 6-5 road win over the Georgetown Raiders on Saturday. Chris O'flaherty and Darian Anderson each had a goal and two assists for the Flyers (34-10-51), who are tied for second in the Western Conference of the Ontario Junior Hockey League. Cameron Arquette, Nathan Leek, Griffin Grundner and Marquise Brown added goals against the fifth-place Raiders (25-19-1-4).

PIROSKI HITS MILESTONE

Tony Piroski earned his 300th career win as head coach of the Essex 73's on Saturday.

The 73's scored the game's final four goals to rally past the Wheatley Sharks 5-3 in Bill Stobbs Division play in the Provincial Junior Hockey League.

Gabe Barrette scored twice for the first-place 73's (34-4-1-2), with Jack Bulmer, Marcus Levesque and Gabriel Piccolo adding goals. Ethan Hamelin, Kyle Bleau and Madden Drouillard countered for the fourth-place Sharks, who held a 42-27 edge in shots.

Also Saturday, the Amherstburg Admirals dropped the Walpole Island Wild 6-3.

Owen Papulkas and Layne Crispin each scored twice for the sixthplace Admirals (10-31-0-0). Finn Russett and Connor Demelo added goals against the Wild (5-35-0-0).

Wheatley (24-13-1-2) rebounded on Sunday in a wide-open game that the Sharks took 8-4 over the third-place Blenheim Blades (2811-1-1).

Hamelin had three goals and an assist to lead the Sharks, who held a 50-48 edge in shots. Vito Alfano had a pair of goals with Bleau, Braedon Caetano and Shannon Olson also scoring.

AGOSTA BOWS OUT

Ruthven native Meghan Agosta has announced her retirement from hockey.

The 37-year-old Agosta is sixth in all-time goals for Canada's national team with 85 and sits seventh in assists with 91 and sixth in points with 176 in 178 games.

Agosta helped Canada to gold at the 2006, 2010 and 2014 Olympic Winter Games and also won a silver medal at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

Agosta also played on eight world championship teams with Canada and won gold in 2007 and 2012.

Now a police constable in Vancouver, Agosta has not played for Canada since the 2019-20 Rivalry Series against the United States.