In only five years of existence, the Sheridan Bruins women’s basketball team have made quite the impression earning their third consecutive OCAA Championship title this past weekend in Barrie. Led by veterans Hali Burns, Jeralyn Espiritu and Donisha Young, the Bruins defeated the Algonquin Thunder, Fanshawe Falcons and St. Clair Saints enroute to the title. Sheridan averaged 79 points per game in their three victories, with the championship MVP Hali Burns averaging 18.3 points per game. Please check out below for complete game summaries and award winners.


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OCAA Medalists
Gold: Sheridan
Silver: St. Clair
Bronze: Seneca

Championship Results
Game 1: 1:00 p.m. St. Clair defeated George Brown 67-53
Game 2: 3:00 p.m. Sheridan defeated Niagara 83-47
Game 3: 6:00 p.m. Seneca defeated Humber 50-49
Game 4: 8:00 p.m. Fanshawe defeated Algonquin 52-43

Semi-Final#1: 6:00 p.m. St. Clair defeated Seneca 53-47
Semi-Final#2: 8:00 p.m. Sheridan defeated Fanshawe 66-36

Bronze Medal Game - Seneca defeated Fanshawe 60-41
Gold Medal Game - Sheridan defeated St. Clair 88-56

OCAA Championship MVP
Hali Burns, Sheridan

OCAA Championship All-Stars
Ruth Holland, Seneca
Kaitlind Dutrizac, Fanshawe
Katie Goodburn, St. Clair
Sarah Stevens, St. Clair
Jeralyn Espiritu, Sheridan

OCAA Fair Play Award
Alison Griffiths, Fanshawe

First Round Matches – Thursday, March 4th

Game 1: 1:00 p.m. St. Clair 67 vs. George Brown 53
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The St. Clair women’s basketball team has upset the #1 Seed from the East Region with a 67-53 victory over George Brown College at the OCAA Provincial Championships at Georgian College in Barrie.

Katie Goodburn led the Saints with a game high 24 points and was awarded Player of the Game honours. Jenae Grayer had 16 points to go with 6 rebounds while Sarah Stevens reached double figures with 15 points adding 7 rebounds, while Shannon Matheson and Natalie Bagot of George Brown each put up 13 points in a losing effort.

The Saints will now play in the Provincial Semi-Final against either Seneca on Friday at 6 pm.

St. Clair is guaranteed to play in a medal game on Saturday which will be their first opportunity in 6 seasons.

Players of the Game
St. Clair - # 11 Katie Goodburn
George Brown - # 4 Shannon Matheson

Game 2: 3:00 p.m. Niagara 47 vs. Sheridan 83
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If there was any rust on the Sheridan Bruins women's basketball team (30-3, 15-0 OCAA) after a 13-day layoff, it wasn't real evident in the opening stages of the club's OCAA quarter-final against Niagara.

Fueled by the inside-outside combination of Donisha Young and Jeralyn Espiritu, the double-blue jumped out to a quick 13-2 lead in the opening 3:19 and never looked back in an 83-47 victory over Niagara.

"The performance was good, we came out with an intensity defensively that set the tone for the game," said head coach Shane Bascoe. "We were able to mix it up down low and on the perimeter."

Donisha Young led the way with a game-high 24 points while hauling down 12 rebounds as well. Jeralyn Espiritu (11) and Michelle Asare (10) were also in double figures for the double-blue.

Kaitlyn McKenna scored 22 points for Niagara in the loss.

They will now await the winner of Algonquin and Fanshawe to see who they will face in the OCAA semi final.

"We'll relish this win for a couple hours, but then we'll re-focus on tomorrow," Bascoe said. "It's a new game and a new day and anything can happen in the OCAA tournament."

Players of the Game
Sheridan - # 10 Donisha Young
Niagara - # 10 Kaitlyn McKenna

Game 3: 6:00 p.m. Seneca 50 vs. Humber 49
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The Seneca Sting held on to defeated the Humber Hawks 50-49. The Sting lineup had four players score in double figures with All-Star Tamara Nembhard leading the way with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Maria Suriani of Humber scored 13 points in a losing effort.

Players of the Game
Seneca Sting - # 3 Binky Raymundo
Humber Hawks - # 14 Chrissy Gordon

Game 4: 8:00 p.m. Fanshawe 52 vs. Algonquin 43
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The Fanshawe Falcons defeated Algonquin 52-43 to advance to the Semi-Finals of the OCAA Women's Basketball Championship. The loss by Algonquin was only their second on the year. Kaitlind Dutrizac and Alison Griffiths scored 13 points a piece to lead the Falcons to victory. Sandre Bascoe of Algonquin led all scores with 14 points and 17 rebounds in the loss.

Players of the Game
Fanshawe Falcons - # 45 Allison Griffiths
Algonquin Thunder - # 33 Sandre Bascoe

Semi-Finals – Friday, March 5th

Game 5: 6:00 p.m. St. Clair 53 vs. Seneca 47
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The St. Clair College Women’s Basketball team advanced to the Gold Medal Game at the OCAA Championship tournament after defeating Seneca College 53-47 tonight in a semi-final game in Barrie. The Saints trailed 12-0 to open the game but battled back and were only down 27-23 at half-time. Outscoring Seneca 30-20 in the second half the come from behind victory propels St. Clair to their first Gold Medal game since their 2003-04 Provincial Championship season.

OCAA West Region 1st Team All-Star Sara Levesque (Hornepayne) led all scorers with 20 points and added 11 rebounds for the double-double. Sarah Stevens (Windsor-Catholic Central) and Jenae Grayer (Windsor-St. Anne) each had 9 points. Stephens also had 11 rebounds while point guard Katie Goodburn (Chatham) had 8 points and 6 assists. Ruth Holland of Seneca scored 16 points in the loss.

Tip time for Saturday’s Championship game is 5:00 PM at Barrie’s Georgian College against Sheridan College (Brampton). Sheridan is ranked #1 in the OCAA and CCAA and advanced to the Championship game defeating Fanshawe College 66-36 in the other semi-final tonight. The Saints have lost both of their meetings with Sheridan this season but gave them their worst scare of the season in a 68-62 game in January.

Players of the Game
St. Clair - # 15 Sarah Stevens
Seneca - # 12 Ruth Holland

Game 6: 8:00 p.m. Sheridan 66 vs. Fanshawe 36
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If the Sheridan Bruins women's basketball team (31-3, 16-0 OCAA) are to claim a third straight Ontario crown they will have to do it by disposing of yet another OCAA West opponent, booking a date with St. Clair after a 66-36 victory over Fanshawe in the semi final. They previously beat Niagara in the quarter-final.

The double-blue got out to a slow start with only two Bruin players hitting shots from the floor in the first half (the team was 7 of 31 overall) and holding a narrow 26-21 lead at the break. In the second half they seemed to find their scoring touch again, converting on 46.9 per cent of their attempts.

Hali Burns led the way with 23 points - 16 of which came in the first half - while Sam Scull (11) and Jeralyn Espiritu (10) were also in double figures.

Alison Griffiths scored 14 points for Fanshawe in the loss.

Players of the Game
Sheridan - # 5 Jeralyn Espiritu
Fanshawe - # 12 Jessica Finlay

Medal Matches – Saturday, March 6th

Bronze Medal Game - Seneca 60 vs. Fanshawe 41
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The Seneca Sting captured the OCAA Women's Basketball bronze medal as they defeated Fanshawe 60-41. The Sting were led by OCAA All-Stars Tamara Nembhard and Ruth Holland who scored 13 and 12 points respectively.

Stephanie Kasprzyk of Fanshawe scored 10 points in a losing effort.

Players of the Game
Seneca - # 15 Sherise Inniss-Hall
Fanshawe - # 11 Kaitlind Dutrizac

Gold Medal Game - St. Clair 56 vs. Sheridan 88
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From the opening tip the St. Clair Saints drew a line in the sand with a 2-3 zone defensive set-up that told the two-time defending Ontario champion Sheridan Bruins women's basketball team (32-3. 17-0 OCAA) they would have to make jump shots, and baskets inside the paint would be at a premium. And for a few minutes, the strategy worked as the Lady Bruins struggled to find their range and remained scoreless through the first five minutes.

But once they did start converting their attempts, the flood gates opened and the double-blue put on a sublime perimeter shooting display - drilling an OCAA record 14 - that turned the tide and propelled them to an 88-56 victory and their straight gold medal.

"Shots are going to fall. Good shooters never stop shooting," said head coach Shane Bascoe. "The girls were pretty confident, they kept doing what we do and the shots started dropping."

As the Bruins struggled early on, St. Clair wasn't able to fully capitalize and held an early 8-2 lead. Jeralyn Espiritu - who scored 20 points in the contest and was named the player of the game in addition to a tournament all-star - supplied the first Sheridan lead of the day after draining her first of six three-pointers on the day.

St. Clair, still buoyed by their start, battled back to take a 13-12 lead, before Hali Burns - who had a game high 23 points and was the tournament MVP - hit back-to-back three-pointers to restore a Bruin lead that would not be relinquish.

What turned out to be St. Clair's last gasp came late in the first half when they rebounded from Burns' two three-pointers to tie the game. Sheridan, however, was able to reclaim the momentum and closed the first half on a 21-7 run and held a comfortable, if not commanding, 39-25 halftime edge.

In the second half, the Bruins were able to find some seams in the defence and began to inflict inside-outside damage. As the lead began to multiply, St. Clair began to compound their problems by trying to press the action too much and ultimately cost themselves possessions with careless turnovers.

In addition to Burns and Espiritu, Donisha Young (13) and Sam Scull (10) were also in double figures.

St. Clair was led by Katie Goodburn and her 17 point effort, while teammate Sara Levesque chipped in with 12 points and 14 boards in the loss.

The Bruins will travel next to Kelowna, B.C. for the CCAA National Championship tournament at the University of British Columbia - Okanagan campus March 18-20. Bascoe says that the team will enjoy the moment for now and will resume practicing in a couple of days.

"We'll soak it in for a couple of days but early next week it's back to business," he said.

Players of the Game
Sheridan - # 5 Jeralyn Espiritu
St. Clair - # 3 Ashley Huston