See me before you purchase or lease \xxir next vehicle G lenleven C H R Y S L E R · C h rysler · J E E P D O D C E 2388 Royal Windsor Dr., 905-S45-7575 SPORTS Editor: Norm Nelson Phone: 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: nnelson @haltonsearch.com W ill >NKSI )AY. N< )VHMBHK 21. 2< K» l I 1)| AutoGlass K J h 1033 Speers Rd. APPLE UPHOLSTERY... 8 4 2 -6 0 6 0 SEATS, BOAT TOPS, CONVERTIBLE TOPS... Peter C. McCusker · Oakville B eaver Raiders sweep Halton girls basketball titles Seniors defeat Notre Dame 50-37: host crucial OFSAA qualifier today at Loyola By Norm Nelson BEAVER SPO R T S EDITOR O akville's St. Thomas A quinas, for the second year in a row, com pleted a one-tw o sw eep at M onday's Halton high school girls basketball cham pi onships, the jun io r Raiders defeating N elson 50-41 and the senior Raiders defeating Notre D am e 50-37. For the juniors it w as the culm ina tion o f their season -- the final big game. For the seniors, they're hoping it was ju st a harbinger o f greater things to come. Besides pride in winning their fourth straight Halton senior title, A quinas also earned hom e town advantage in a cru cial G olden H orseshoe A thletic LE F T PHOTO: the R aiders cele brate their fourth straight H alton cham pionship on M onday. RIG HT PHOTO: K ara L ang is guarded by a N otre D am e player. Conference (G-H A C) 'final four' chal lenge m atch w hich is on tap today (W ednesday) in O akville (but at Loyola, please note!). A nd A quinas, theoretically, gets another little edge in that they get to h ost the H am ilton R om an C atholic fin a list, Bishop Ryan w hich lost in their ow n league playoff final in double dig its to three-tim e O FSA A provincial cham pion St. Mary's. N otre Dame, the Halton cham pi onship loser, on the other hand, is sad dled w ith the unenviable task o f having to travel to Ham ilton to face St. M ary's in today's other G -H A C 'final four' chal lenge match. The w inners o f today's tw o matches both advance to the O FSA A provincial cham pionships. Aquinas certainly know s how tough St. M ary's can be, having lost to them last year in the provincial O FSA A (See 'Aquinas' page D2) Juniors defeat Nelson 50-41: end season season undefeated in regular season and playoffs T he ju n io r A quinas R aiders' 50-41 H alton cham pionship win underscored the strength of their school's girls bas ketball program. T h ey w on the sc h o o l's seco n d straight ju n io r title, 50-41 over N elson on M onday, w ithout four junior-eligi ble players w ho not only suited up for the senior team -- but started for them . T hose four juniors are K ara Lang, K aren Z m irak , S arah D illon and A ndrea Sergautis T hose left, how eyer, were obvious ly quite capable o f holding the fort, as their H alton cham pionship win capped an undefeated string throughout the regular season and playoffs. N elson w as sim ilarly undefeated and, as one m ight expect, put up a w or thy battle. But it m irrored the senior gam e in w hich A quinas w ere never behind although they had to w eather num er ous challenges. In this case, N elson, dow n only 1412 after the first quarter, w ere actually able to send it into the break, dead even at 18-18. But A quinas must have ate their W h eaties during h alf tim e as they blasted o ut to a 30-20 lead in the third quarter. N elson, to their credit, kept fighting back, co m ing as close as an enticing trey at 39-36 at the m idway point o f the fourth quarter. Raiders co ach Vic Juzenas conced ed that at a couple o f junctures in the Peter C. McCusker · Oakville Beaver T he R aiders celebrate their sch o o l's second successive H alton ju n io r title. T he R aiders closed out their season with an im pressive 20-6 overall record. gam e "I kept thinking if they score here, how are our girls going to handle it. "A nd then it never seem ed like they (N elson) could get past that hump. " I thought w e did a really good jo b o f answ ering w hen they d id m ake tho se runs. We g o t se ttle d dow n again." C heryl Silva led the R aiders scoring w ith 21 points and she w as follow ed by N ina M ueller (11), A lex Yurichuk (6), K rista S esto k as (5), K atie M cK enna (2), Holly Q uinn (1) and Jam ie Lynn-H ill (1). "We ju st played hard," said Silva. "We heard they w ere a fast team , and they were. They played really good. We played our hearts out and w e got it." T he A quinas ju n io rs closed out the season w ith a 20-6 overall record, including tournam ent play. The losses cam e at the hands o f St. Jo h n 's from B rantford w ho beat them tw ice, and one each by St. M ary 's, W estdale, L akeshore C atholic and St. B asil (from Sault Ste. M arie). "We lost to som e team s that have quality program s," said coach Juzenas. E specially w ith the unusually large talent drain to the senior team , coach Juzenas said he w as "ju st happy w ith the w ay the girls cam e along during the season. "The girls that started in last y ea r's gam e have all m oved (up to senior) so these girls had been back-ups last year. " It's different being a starter as opposed to a back up. I m ean they were all good players last year, but it's dif ferent w hen y o u 're com ing in for two or three m inutes. If you m ake a m is take, usually the coach w ill take you out and put the starter back in. "But now w hen they m ake a m is take they have to learn how to get through it and not get rattled." 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