The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, November 16, 2011 · 26 Abbey bb Park k juniors finally f ll reach h their h destination d Eagles l atone for f loss l in Halton l final f l last l season By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF ERIC RIEHL / OAKVILLE BEAVER EAGLES FINISH PERFECT CAMPAIGN: Erica Mandel of the Abbey Park Eagles (in white) powers past a Georgetown Rebels defender last week at Sheridan College. Mandel scored 14 points and pulled down 14 rebounds to lead the Eagles to a 39-36 win in the Halton junior girls' basketball Tier 1 final, , concluding g an undefeated season for Abbey y Park. As the Abbey Park Eagles gathered for a team picture following their win in last week's Halton junior girls' Tier 1 basketball final, Erica Mandel said what had to be on the minds of all her teammates. "So much better than last year," Mandel said with a huge smile, holding up her gold medal as the cameras flashed. The mood had not been so cheerful 12 months earlier. Abbey Park entered the final with an undefeated record and playing an opponent it had already beaten by double digits, as it had with all but one of their previous 12 opponents. But the Bishop Reding Royals shocked the Eagles last year, taking the title with a 39-30 victory. Last Thursday, Abbey Park again carried a perfect record in league play into the championship game at Sheridan College. And this time, the Eagles would not be denied. Despite seeing an 11-point lead dwindle to as little as two points in the final minutes, Abbey Park held off the Georgetown Rebels for a 39-36 victory. And as excited as the Abbey Park players were to win the title, they were just as excited for coach Dan Bonanca, who they insisted hold the championship trophy in the team picture. Bonanca had been to three previous championship games, dating back to his time at Heritage Glen elementary school. In each of those finals, he had a member of the Mandel or Bozinoski family on his team. Fittingly, Erica Mandel and Niki Bozinoski played key roles in Abbey Park's victory. "We won this for him," said Mandel, who matched her game-high 14 points with 14 rebounds for the Eagles. g Meanwhile, Bozinoski scored seven of her 13 points in the final quarter to help hold off f the Rebels. She also had nine rebounds. Abbey Park appeared to be in control after a strong second quarter by Hailey den Elzen helped it build an 11-point advantage. But the Rebels opened the second half with an eight-point run that cut the Eagles' lead to three. That was cause for concern, but the Eagles drew on their experience -- not only from last year's final, but from their playoff f game earlier in the week. "We did the same thing in the semifinal," Bozinoski said. "We got off to a slow start but the later it gets into the game and the more intense it gets, the better we play." "One thing the girls have been very good at is they always find a way to figure things out," said Bonanca, who coaches the team with Mike Bernard and Juan Nunez. And the Eagles almost always found a way. Over the past two years, the team has posted an overall record of 60-5, including a 26-1 mark this year. Its lone defeat was a onepoint loss to Windsor's St. Anne's at the St. Thomas More tournament. Thursday, it was a nice runner by Taylor Scott that helped get Abbey Park back on track as it rebuilt its lead to eight. Georgetown refused to give in, eventually pulling within two, but Bozinoski and Mandel went 4-for-6 from the line down the stretch to keep the Eagles in front. "This is the best team I've ever played on," said Mandel. "Everyone was so well-rounded." "It felt like a two-year journey," Bonanca added. And as captains Amanda Horne and Mandel were presented the trophy, the coach and the Eagles had finally reached their destination. f OFSAA h hoops Hawks, Irish in GHAC finals f today STA one step from Continued from page 25 team play like that, but the other side is you championship game as a Grade 10 student, want more for them," he added. led all scorers with 26 points Thursday -- "If the run was going to end, I'm cerincluding seven three-pointers. She was tainly glad it was Alana and (her father) Vic forced to pick up coaching on the the scoring slack of other side. That injured teammate was good." Siobhan Manning, D e s p i t e Halton high school Tier 1 senior girls champions (since 2005) who played with a Thursday's result, Year Level Champion Opponent Score broken hand and both Loyola and 2005 AAAA Notre Dame M.M. Robinson 46-40 2006 AAAA Notre Dame M.M. Robinson 43-11 managed just four Notre Dame can 2007 Div. 1 Notre Dame Holy y Trinity y 55-42 2008 Div. 1 Notre Dame Nelson 65-35 points. still qualify for this 2009 Div. 1 Notre Dame Holy y Trinity y 46-32 "Angela and year's Ontario 2010 Div. 1 Notre Dame Loyola y 44-32 2011 Tier 1 Loyola y Notre Dame 42-40 Siobhan, they carFederation of f ried all the load School Athletic this year, as far as Associations scoring, leadership and defence goes," (OFSAA) championships. Loyola will be Johnston said. "Siobhan's toughness and home to St. Thomas More in the Golden will, and Angela's ability to do whatever is Horseshoe Athletic Conference (GHAC) asked of her, that will be the lasting memory quad-A championship game today for me of those two kids. (Wednesday) at 6 p.m., while the Irish will "That's where mixed emotions come in. host St. Mary's in the GHAC triple-A final It's tough g to be upset p when you y see your y today y at 3:30 p.m. p End of Irish oppression The St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders senior girls' basketball team is finally reaping the benefits of playing tougher competition. The Raiders, who struggled through a 2-10 campaign in the Halton Tier 1 league this year, are one step away from qualifying for the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) double-A tournament. Aquinas earned its third Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference (GHAC) double-A title in as many years with a 48-29 win over Burlington Central -- this year's Tier 2 champion -- Monday at Aquinas. The Raiders will host Peel representative Brampton Ascension tomorrow (Thursday) at 3:30 p.m. with an OFSAA berth on the line. Aquinas q coach Mike Giammichele, , who chose to put his seniors in Tier 1 this season because that meant the school's strong junior team could play Tier 1 as well, said playing the bigger schools in the region helped the Raiders improve. "We battled a lot of f teams, but we just didn't have enough," he said. "The girls knew what we were playing for, though. Our goal was to make it to OFSAA, and playing Tier 1 was going to help us." Kayla Celestini paced the Raiders with 16 points against Central, while Nycole Lopes had nine points and Laura Medlock scored eight. The Aquinas seniors have been recently bolstered by the additions of Marissa Parsons, Sylvia Michalski and Madison Cvetas, who p y junior played j this season.