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Sunday, November 21, 1999 Oakville Beaver Weekend 23 ------- tet m m m m m r,r % , t~ Sports An OakviBe Beaver Feature Editor NORM NELSON 845-3824 (Extension 255) Fax:337-5567 Aquinas survives semifinal scare By Norm Nelson BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR ___ the entire season, at least according to the weekly high school rankings put out by our cor porate brethren down the Q.E.W., the Toronto Star. But that honour alm ost rang hollow on Thursday when the highly touted Raiders almost didn't get out o f their Halton semifinal. The Raiders, trailing by as much as 10 points which they narrowed down to five points at the half, managed a nailbiting 38-37 win over Nelson. Aquinas now moves on to the Halton final against Assumption this Tuesday (Nov. 23), 4:45 p.m. at the Porter Gym at Sheridan College. The junior final kicks the afternoon off at 3 p.m., pitting Nelson against Pearson. The Assumption seniors also survived a close semifinal, defeating M.M. Robinson 52-49. The winner of this Halton final will only be one step away from a berth in the OFSAA T |he St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders have been the top basketball team in the GTA provincial championship. Unfortunately, that one step is huge step. Tuesday's Halton champion will move on to the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference (GHAC) final, slated for Thursday in Hamilton, against Hamilton separate school board champi on St. M ary's, generally considered the top team in the province. Aquinas could very well be second, depend ing on which expert you talk to, but more on that later. The Raiders' close call in their semifinal match was less of a shocker and more of a state ment on the strength of girls basketball in the Halton/Hamilton area. Nelson were no slouches, and were actually Halton's second top ranked team (behind Aquinas) in that above mentioned Star poll, coming in at fourth in Friday's paper. Still, Aquinas coach Vic Juzenas conceded the game was "a lot closer than I was expecting." `T h e one thing we talked about before hand is that we couldn't get into foul trouble, and our big (post) girls (Laura Chuba and Kim Salem) got two fouls within the first three minutes. (See 'Raiders' page 24) 4 W > # Jk > Jm k jfl» ¥ 1 I Photos by Barrie Erskine Aquinas won a 38-37 squeaker over Nelson in last T hursday's H alton 5 sem ifinal. In action for A quinas, in both o f these photos, is O lena Bien. She's "been a tiger on defence," said coach Vic Juzenas. " I m ean she creates mayhem , causing turnovers and ju st m aking people throw the ball away before they're ready to throw it."