Staff
Katelyn Brown not only had the most points but the most important ones.
Brown’s late-game bucket pushed the Riverview Royals past the host Robert Moore Mustangs 14-12 in the gold-medal game of the Rainy River District Athletic Association’s season-opening Grade 8 girls’ basketball tournament held April 1.
It was an epic turnaround for the Royals after last year’s team didn’t win a game all season.
Brown netted a game-high eight points while Keira Govier, Kirsten Armstrong, and Olivia Kreger had two apiece.
Jenna Furlong and Ingrid Ellis had four points each, and Anna Gagne two, for the Mustangs, who led 10-4 at halftime.
But they were outscored 10-2 in the second half thanks to a fantastic defensive effort by the Royals.
Riverview went 4-0 during the round-robin portion of the five-team tournament to finish first in the standings.
The Royals edged the Mustangs 10-8, dumped the Crossroads Tornadoes 20-6, blanked the Fort Frances Muskies (Grade 7-8 team) 16-0, and rolled over the St. Francis Sentinels 13-4.
Robert Moore finished at 3-1 to grab second in the standings–stamping their ticket to the final with a 16-13 win over St. Francis, who would have advanced to the championship game if they had won.
The Mustangs also topped Crossroads 16-8 and routed the Muskies 20-2.
St. Francis downed Crossroads (score unavailable at press time) in the bronze-medal match.
The Sentinels beat the Tornadoes 10-2 and swamped the Muskies 26-2.
Crossroads secured fourth in the round-robin standings with a 1-3 record after beating Fort High (0-4) by a 12-2 margin.
The next tournament for the girls is set for April 22 at Fort High.
