Staff
Tatum Glowasky made plenty of shots but the last one was the biggest.
The diminutive point guard’s game-high 10 points came on a free throw with 31 seconds to go, which wound up being the difference in a 15-14 overtime win by the St. Francis Sentinels over the Donald Young All-Stars in the final of the Rainy River District Athletic Association’s Grade 8 girls’ regional basketball tournament Saturday at Fort High.
It was the perfect bookend to the game as Glowasky had the only point of the first half on a foul shot to give St. Francis a 1-0 lead at the break.
Her repeated attempts to slash through the DYS defence finally paid dividends in the second half as she hit three field goals, to go along with another by Lauren Penney, to help the Sentinels grab a 9-4 lead.
But the All-Stars suddenly found their own shooting touch, with Isabelle Taylor, Raelle Redford, and Paige Yerxa hitting consecutive jump shots from the 10-foot range to push DYS into a 10-9 lead.
Glowasky sunk a free throw with 42 seconds left to force the extra period.
After Glowasky and Taylor traded buckets, Brookelynn Marchuk drained a six-foot fadeaway to put St. Francis up 14-12 before Glowasky made her last free throw.
Yerxa then swished a 12-footer with 20 seconds to go, but the Sentinels in-bounded and never let DYS get the ball back until the final three seconds, when it was too late for the All-Stars to get off a good shot for the win.
Taylor led DYS with six points while Redford and Yerxa added four each.
The Sentinels put on a defensive clinic in the semi-finals with a 10-2 victory over Crossroads–completely stifling a Tornadoes’ team that had averaged more than 15 points per game in topping Pool ‘A’ with a 3-0 record.
Glowasky had six points in that one while Penney and Jordyn Seguin had two apiece.
Justine Linklater netted the Tornadoes’ lone basket.
The Sentinels finished second in Pool ‘A’ with a 2-1 record after beating the Robert Moore Mustangs 11-6 and the Atikokan Voyageurs 14-3 while losing 7-2 to the Riverview Royals (Rainy River).
Riverview took first place in the pool to take first after emerging with a better tie-breaker ratio (.638) than the Sentinels (.628) and the Voyageurs (.432) when each team’s points for was divided by its points for plus points against.
The Royals topped the Mustangs 13-4 while losing 11-10 to the Voyageurs, who also edged Robert Moore 11-8 to leave the Mustangs in fourth at 0-3.
DYS doubled Riverview 10-5 in the other semi-final.
Yerxa had three points to pace the All-Stars, with Taylor and twins Jocelyn and Janelle Allan all chipping in with two.
Paiten Kinnear tacked on a free throw.
Taya Hagarty and Kirsten Armstrong had two points each for the Royals, with Madison Talbot adding one.
DYS racked up wins of 27-2 over St. Pat’s (Atikokan) and 18-3 over the Sturgeon Creek Sturgeons while also falling to Crossroads 15-10.
The Tornadoes won the pool by also defeating St. Pat’s 12-2 and Sturgeon Creek 20-10.
The Sturgeons wound up in third in the pool with a 1-2 record after romping to a 20-2 win over fourth-place St. Pat’s (0-3).
In the bronze-medal showdown, Riverview raced out to a 12-3 lead by halftime en route to a 23-7 triumph over Crossroads.
Hagarty and Keira Govier each had six points for the Royals while Naomi Carradice had four.
Linklater had four points for the Tornadoes while Joanna Empey notched three.
In the boys’ division, DYS retained its crown for the second-straight year with an 18-15 decision over Crossroads in the final.
Jevonte Phillips had six points for the All-Stars while Jacob Argue and Cam Mosbeck had five each.
Santino Smith had 10 points for the Tornadoes, hitting the first of back-to-back “threes,” to go along with another by Darryl-Jo Sakchekapo, to give Crossroads its first lead of the game late in the second half at 15-14.
But Phillips tied it with a free throw and Argue connected on a clutch jumper, before Phillips added another foul shot for the final point.
DYS and Crossroads had identical 2-0-1 records in Pool ‘B,’ with the two teams tying each other 16-16 in their round-robin matchup.
The All-Stars got the nod for first place thanks to having a higher tie-breaker ratio (.685) than the Tornadoes (.652).
DYS blasted St. Pat’s 30-6 and got past Sturgeon Creek 15-6 while Crossroads bombed St. Pat’s 20-3 and outlasted the Sturgeons 11-6.
Sturgeon Creek (1-2) ended up third in the pool thanks to a 22-2 hammering of fourth-place St. Pat’s (0-3), whose thin roster included a number of Grade 5 and 6 players.
Over in Pool ‘A,’ Riverview finished first with a 3-0 record after wins over Robert Moore (12-4), Atikokan (13-7), and St. Francis (15-14).
The Royals faced Crossroads in the semi-finals but only sank one shot from the floor the whole game and ultimately fell 12-10.
Smith has seven for the Tornadoes while Ashton Cousineau had four and Jayden Asselin added a free throw.
Walid Quran scored six for Riverview, all in the second half.
St. Francis was second in Pool ‘B’ at 2-1 after downing Robert Moore 20-12 and Atikokan 17-10.
The Voyageurs and Mustangs tied 10-10 and both ended up 0-2-1, with Atikokan winning via the tie-breaking formula (.402 to .382).
Riverview went on to beat St. Francis 14-12 in the bronze-medal game–its fourth win in four tries this year against the Sentinels.
A technical foul for coach Joey Payeur calling a timeout from the sideline when they had none left cost the Sentinels late in the second half as the Royals sunk a key late free throw.
Brayden Holmes had six for the Royals while Quran netted five and Tyson Maki three.
Connor Belluz and Declan Webb each had four points for St. Francis.
