SBA Blues-JUEL Prevail In Express Tourn. Final Rematch

Ahriana Grizzle

On November 12, 2017, the Scarborough Blues-JUEL defeated the host St Laurent Express 100-69, to win the 2017 Express Tournament-Juvenile Division Championship in Montreal, QC.

The win was a rematch between the two teams, where the home team was victorious by a narrow one-point win.

The Blues’ Championship Final victory in this year’s event, was on the strength of an excellent fourth quarter that saw them power to a 31-6 run.

SBA led the game from start to finish, never relinquishing the lead they took right from the opening bucket. They were also a model of consistency, which saw them score an even 50 points in each half.

The game’s final score does not tell the full story of the game, which was a hard fought battle that was close for the vast majority of play. The Express kept the game close and had the game as close as four points, 69-65 early in the fourth Quarter.

It was at that time that the defending Ontario JUEL rep league Champions put things into overdrive. They went on a 15-0 run and put the game out of doubt. A key contributor to that run was Ahrianna Grizzle who score 10 of her game high 24 points in the final frame.

The Blues attack was a balanced one, which saw just about all players make the score sheet. Other significant scoring contributions came from Brianna Breedy (16 points), Kiara Leveridge (14 points) and Paulla Weekes (12 points).

Kiandra Browne

In response, St Laurent were led by Kiandra Browne’s 22 and Angelica Juste-Jean’s 19 point efforts.

Earlier in the day, both teams qualified for their finals appearance with tournament Semi-Final wins.

The Blues won their morning matchup against Lucien Pagé, by a score of 73-58. Blues leading scorers were Breedy with 16 points and Leveridge with 15. Pagé’s leading scorers were Donna Ntambue with 18 points, Kenya Cote-Lysuis with 17 points and Sarah Te-Biasu with 16.

The other Semi-Final saw St Laurent defeat Central Tech by a score of 104-75. St Laurent was led by Juste-Jean’s 32 points and Browne’s 20, while Central Tech’s Naana Mensa scored 27 and Ivy Twumasi and Marley Bonnick each scored 14.