The St. Matthew Tigers senior girls basketball team won the Tier 2 basketball title this week, and with it a chance to play in the OFSAA provincial tournament next week. The Tigers knocked off the St. Joseph Jaguars 48-36 on Thursday behind a 15-point perforamce by Kate Edwards.
St. Matt's will now take on the St. Mark Lions on Nov. 12 with the winner earning a ticket to the 'AA' provincial championships taking place in Belleville from Nov. 22-24. The Lions lost to South Carleton in the Tier 1 final on Wednesday.
The final between the Tigers and the Jaguars was pretty close throughout most of the first half. It wasn't until late in the second quater that St. Matts began to put some distance between themselves. Trailing 21-25, Edwards hit back to back three-point shots to put her team up 27-25 at the half-time break.
The Tigers would extend their lead to 35-28 midway through the third quarter on a pair of buckets by Emma Rivers and Rhyse Button. They would need the seven point cushion as the Jaguars manaaged to claw their way back to within a single point in the fourth. But that would be as close as they would get.
After missing a three-point shot, Edwards grabbed her own rebound and put the ball back up for two to put the Tigers up 38-35. A two-point shot by Hannah John-Simon followed by a steal and another three-point bucket by Edwards would extend the Tigers lead to eight points with 2:29 left in the game.
Two more baskets by John-Simon extended St. Matt's lead to 12 points which is how the game ended.
The win improved the Tigers record to 9-1. They'll be hoping to make it 10-1 when they play St. Mark on Nov. 12.