Tigers OFSAA-bound in senior girls’ basketball, Knights fall to Rebelles

Lethal three-point shooting by Tigers guard Sarah Langlois was the key to her team building a 26-19 half-time advantage, while Virginia Peters was also a force from the post position.

St. Matthew played sound defence against a patient Hillcrest offence that took full advantage of the lack of shot clock in high school basketball, while the Tigers moved the ball quickly to score their points.

The Tigers advanced to the National Capital ‘AAA/AAAA’ final where they’ll face the only team that has beat them this year, the Louis-Riel Rebelles, who knocked off the St. Peter Knights 59-29 in the other semi-final.

A fierce Rebelles defence kept the Knights off the scoreboard for the entire quarter as they expanded their 23-9 half-time lead to 39-9 thanks to a tremendous transition game that resulted in numerous fast-break baskets.

“We did as best we could,” St. Peter coach Mario Gaetano said, noting the Rebelles have the potential to do some real damage at the provincial finals, not to mention in the future with a trio of NCAA-bound players and several more potential Canadian university athletes. “They’re a very talented team and had we defeated them, it would have been a huge upset.”

The Knights already had a big upset under the belts from the quarter-final round when they held onto their breath long enough to see 9-1 Sacred Heart miss the third of three free-throws with only a few seconds left to escape with a 33-32 victory.

“That was an overachievement in itself, and that’s what we’re going to build on for next year,” Gaetano said, noting only one of his players will graduate this spring. “This was a good experience for next year.”

St. Matthew faces Louis-Riel at 8 p.m. on Tuesday in the championship game at Merivale High School. The Rebelles won the two regular-season meetings between the teams 54-31 and 43-30.