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The best small-school teams in Ontario will step onto the hardwood in Walkerton and Kincardine Thursday and compete for the OFSAA single-A senior girls’ basketball championship.
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Sixteen squads have qualified for the three-day tournament with host Walkerton District Community School and games set for both WDCS and Kincardine District Senior School.
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More than 250 participants are expected to be involved, with teams from Walkerton and Wingham among the teams that are going for gold.
All of the games will be streamed live on the YouTube channels of both the Walkerton and Kincardine schools while Wightman TV will broadcast recorded games throughout December on their community channel.
Grey-Bruce sports broadcasting legend Fred Wallace will commentate Saturday’s consolation finals and both medal games.
The gold medal game is set for 6 p.m. Saturday at Walkerton District Community School.
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For a full schedule and more information visit www.ofsaa.on.ca and navigate to the single-A senior girls’ basketball championship page.
Tournament convenor Dan Rourke and Walkerton’s head coach Vince Yenssen submitted a proposal to be host for the tournament and were awarded the event by OFSAA.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do . . . it’s a heck of a lot of work but now that most of the organizing is behind us we’re happy we did it. It’s going to be a really fun week,” Rourke said.
It’s expected approximately $50,000 in accommodation revenue and $25,000 in food and beverage revenue will be generated locally by the three-day event.
On Thursday night, all of the teams will gather at Walkerton District Community School for the OFSAA banquet, which the organizers said is like planning a prom in the middle of a basketball tournament.
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Mackenzie Robinson, a Stayner native who enjoyed a standout career as a four-year starter at Laurentian before joining a Brock Badgers squad that went undefeated in the 2021-22 regular season before bowing out in the bronze medal game at the U SPORTS National Championships, is the guest speaker for the banquet.
On the court, the Hamilton District Christian High School Knights (Ancaster) enter the tournament as the top-ranked team.
A seeding committee is ranks the 16 teams before the tournament. Strength of schedule, season record, program history and any top players being recruited by colleges and universities are all part of the information that goes into making the seeding decision.
Teams from Kenora, Sudbury and South Porcupine near Timmins are heading to Walkerton for the tournament.
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Walkerton, who finished second in the Bluewater Athletic Association season and didn’t qualify for the regional single-A championship tournament, is granted a spot in the provincial tournament as the host team.
Yenssen said injuries took a toll on the Riverhawks at the end of the regular season, and now they’ll look to make some noise at OFSAA with a healthier squad.
The Woodland Christian Cavaliers enter the tournament as CWOSSA champions and are ranked third.
Wingham’s F.E. Madill is ranked eighth.
In Ontario, single-A schools have an enrolment of 500 students or fewer, although there is some wiggle room to that number.
Six referees from the local Grey-Bruce Association of Basketball Officials will join six from across the province selected by Ontario’s referee-in-chief to officiate the tournament.
THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE
Hamilton (1) vs. Sainte-Trinite (11) 9 a.m. @ KDSS Woodland (3) vs. Oakwood (9) 9 a.m. @ WDCS Nicholson (2) vs. Lajeunesse (12) 11 a.m. @ KDSS St. Mary (4) Walkerton (10) 11 a.m. @ WDCS Smithville (6) vs. Nouvelle Alliance (16) 1 p.m. @ KDSS F.E. Madill (8) vs. UTS (14) 1 p.m. @ WDCS Roland Michener (5) vs. St. Thomas Aquinas (15) 3 p.m. @ KDSS Osgoode (7) vs. L’Horizon (13) 3 p.m. @ WDCS