OFSAA Girls’ 2023 Basketball Championships
November 26, 2023 by admin
Filed under Provincial and Territorial News
| OFSAA GIRLS’ 2023 BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP | ||||
| A | AA | AAA | ||
| Gold | NCSSAA – Osgoode Township High School | GHAC – Kings Christian College | GHAC – Cathedral High School | |
| Silver | EOSSAA – Académie catholique Ange-Gabriel | EOSSAA – Arnprior District High School | GHAC – St John Henry Newman Catholic Secondary School | |
| Bronze | SOSSA – Hamilton District Christian High School | SOSSA – Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School (St Catharines) (OT) | LOSSA – Pickering High School | |
| Antique Bronze | CWOSSA – Woodland Christian High School | NOSSA -Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School | SWOSSAA – St Patrick’s High School | |
| Consolation Champion | GHAC – École secondaire catholique Sainte-Trinité | CWOSSA – McKinnon Park Secondary School | YRAA – Sir William Mulock Secondary School | |
OFSAA 2023 Girls’ Basketball Participants
| A | AA | AAA |
| CISAA – Villanova College | CISAA – Bayview Glen Independent School | COSSA – St Peter Secondary School |
| COSSA – Nicholson Catholic College | COSSA – Centennial Secondary School | CWOSSA – Orangeville District Secondary School |
| COSSA – Norwood District High School | CWOSSA – McKinnon Park Secondary School | EOSSAA – Frontenac Secondary School |
| CWOSSA – Woodland Christian High School | CWOSSA – Holy Trinity High School | GBSSA – Eastview Secondary School |
| EOSSAA – Académie catholique Ange-Gabriel | EOSSAA – Arnprior District High School | GHAC – St John Henry Newman Catholic Secondary School |
| GBSSA – Elmvale District High School | GBSSA – St Theresa’s Catholic High School | GHAC – Cathedral High School |
| GHAC – École secondaire catholique Sainte-Trinité | GHAC – Kings Christian College | LOSSA – Pickering High School |
| LOSSA – École catholique Saint-Charles Garnier | LOSSA – Anderson Collegiate and Vocational School | NCSSAA – St Mother Teresa High School |
| NCSSAA – Osgoode Township High School | NCSSAA – École secondaire catholique Béatrice-Desloges | NOSSA – Korah Collegiate and Vocational School |
| NEOAA – O’Gorman High School | NEOAA – Englehart High School | ROPSSAA – St Roch Catholic Secondary School |
| NOSSA – École secondaire catholique L’Horizon | NOSSA -Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School | SOSSA – Westdale Secondary School |
| NWOSSAA – St Thomas Aquinas High School | NWOSSAA – St Ignatius High School | SWOSSAA – St Patrick’s High School |
| SOSSA – Hamilton District Christian High School | ROPSSAA – St Augustine Catholic Secondary School | TDCAA – Bishop Allen Academy |
| SWOSSAA – John McGregor Secondary School | SOSSA – Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School (St Catharines) | TDSSAA – Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute |
| TDCAA – University of Toronto Schools | SOSSA – E L Crossley Secondary School | WOSSAA – Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School |
| TDSSAA – Ursula Franklin Academy | SWOSSAA – Great Lakes Secondary School | YRAA – Sir William Mulock Secondary School |
| WOSSAA – Mitchell District High School | TDCAA – James Cardinal McGuigan Catholic High School | |
| YRAA – Toronto District Christian High School | TDSSAA – Harbord Collegiate Institute | |
| WOSSAA – East Elgin Secondary School | ||
| YRAA – Thornlea Secondary School |
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Cathedral girls going for third-straight OFSAA basketball title, at home
Team has won 85 straight games and is looking to add another provincial championship to its suddenly bursting trophy case this week.
By Scott Radley Spectator Columnist
The Cathedral Gaels girls basketball team celebrates its third Catholic school city title in a row earlier this month. On Thursday, it will try to win its third straight OFSAA AAA title when it hosts the provincial tournament.
She’s in Grade 13, or taking a “victory lap” if that’s what you want to call it. She’s played on the school basketball team since she transferred to Cathedral High School three years ago where all she’s done is win.
And win and win and win. And then she won some more.
Does the 18-year-old even remember the last game she lost?
“Honestly?” Nubeah Clarke says. “I don’t.”
That’s because her Cathedral team is riding a rather astonishing 85-game winning streak that stretches back to sometime before COVID. Before she was even there.
Beginning Thursday, she and her teammates will be trying to extend that number by a few on their home court. Cathedral is hosting the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations AAA (the category for the most populous schools) tournament.
It’s the first time it’s been in Hamilton in more than a decade. That’s significant. Much more so? They’ll be shooting for their third-straight provincial championship.
Turns out the Gaels of November aren’t just a line in a Gordon Lightfoot tune.
“We don’t want it to stop,” says head coach Kevin Daly.
No kidding.
There have been dominant girls’ teams in this city over the years. St. Mary has won a bunch of OFSAA titles. St. Thomas More and Bishop Ryan, too. Westdale and Ancaster have also won a couple.
This group is now in that conversation. Five members of the squad have implausibly never lost a high school game. What makes this crew unique isn’t just the success it’s having, though. It’s who’s playing.
Many successful high school teams — most, really — are loaded with kids who spend much of their year playing in the rep system and then doing this on the side. Not here.
“Five don’t play any basketball outside Cathedral,” Daly says. “It’s expensive to play club.”
Sure is. Often you’re looking at a couple thousand bucks for a season. For many kids at an inner-city school, that just isn’t possible. In Clarke’s case, she got into the game late, never played club ball as a kid and figured it was too late to start once she got this far.
There’s another challenge facing high schools these days. Many top players at this age attend prep schools that focus on the game and offer specialized training. These expensive, private academies are now often the gateway to big university scholarships. As a result, they tend to lure away the biggest stars.
“We’re from a different demographic,” Daly says of the school’s population.
Some could go. His twin daughters — Keira and Nicole — surely could’ve chosen that route. In the summer, they play in an elite club league that faces top American teams. They’re really good. Yet they’re here for Grade 12.
They didn’t want to miss the full high school experience, they say. They wanted to be able to play other sports, go to school dances and do other non-hoops things. So they chose to stay. They’d play rep and play for Cathedral.
“I love it here,” Keira says.
She and her teammates open the tournament against Peterborough’s St. Peter on Thursday at noon. Depending on how they do, they could face Hamilton’s St. John Henry Newman (which faces Korah Collegiate from Sault Ste. Marie at the same time) in the second round, later in the day.
Westdale is also here. Its first game is against Brampton’s St. Roch at 10:30 a.m.
The championship game is Saturday at 2 p.m.
It’s big for all of them. For Cathedral, this is uniquely huge. Until 2021, the school had never won a provincial title. Now they have a chance for a three-peat. At home.
“That’s so special,” Nicole says.
Students can buy their way out of class for $2 on Thursday to watch. She expects lots will, so the gym will be jammed and rather wild.
Coach Daly says the first title run was nerve-racking because it had never been done by the school before. The second was a little sweaty too, because a few folks had pointed out to him that not every team was back from COVID that first year so they had to win again to prove it was legit.
Now?
“This year, honestly, I’m just enjoying it,” he says.
Though you know he’ll enjoy it even more if the winning streak hits 90 on Saturday and there’s a gold medal around his players’ necks.
