HIGH ACHIEVERS WEEKEND WRAP: Hoop, hoop hooray for Ottawa basketball champions

By Martin Cleary

The Ottawa basketball community is in the midst of celebrating one of its greatest championship seasons ever in 2024-25, possibly its most memorable.

Allow me to put my finger on the fast-beating pulse of this fast-breaking locomotive:

· Three days after making school history by winning both the OUA men’s and women’s basketball championship in the same season, the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees are heading to Vancouver, where they have a solid chance to follow the lead of the 2023 Carleton University Ravens by winning both national titles in the same year. The Gee-Gees, who are ranked No. 1 for men and No. 2 for women, have never won a U Sports national university men’s or women’s basketball championship.

· The Gee-Gees men’s team hit for 31 points in the fourth and final quarter to turn back the Queen’s University Gaels 95-87 in its OUA final a few hours after Ottawa’s women’s team claimed its conference title by upsetting the late-surging and undefeated Carleton University Ravens 70-61.

· Despite losing their first meaningful OUA game this season to the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees in the conference final, the Carleton University Ravens women’s will head to the U Sports nationals as the No. 3 seed and the defending champion.

· Canada Topflight Academy Gold team outscored Shawinigan Prep 75-69 to win the Platinum Circuit national championship for high school prep teams, after using a buzzer-beating basket to win its semifinal.

· The Canada Topflight Academy Red squad won three playoff games to emerge as the Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association Trillium provincial champions. CTA downed St. Jude’s Academy Blues 75-55 in the final.

· The Capital Courts Academy completed an undefeated Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association women’s season by upsetting long-time rival Crestwood Preparatory College 72-57 in the final.

On the heels of the No. 1-nationally ranked Algonquin College women’s basketball team recently winning the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association bronze medal, the Gee-Gees and Ravens have an opportunity to secure more honours over the next six days.

By rallying to win the OUA men’s championship 95-87 over the Queen’s University Gaels at Montpetit Hall and the top-ranked University of Victoria Vikes losing in the Canada West semifinals, the Gee-Gees were promoted to the No. 1 seed for nationals.

The men’s seeding list is completed by the University of Calgary Dinos (No. 2), University of British Columbia Thunderbirds (No. 3), Victoria (No. 4), Bishop’s University Gaiters (No. 5), University of Prince Edward Island Panthers (No. 6), Queen’s University Gaels (No. 7) and Concordia University Stingers (No. 8).

The quarterfinals will be played on Thursday with the Gee-Gees facing Concordia at 5 p.m. (Ottawa time). The Stingers defeated Ottawa 80-70 in a non-conference game in January.

The clutch shooting of Justin Ndjock-Tadmore and down-the-stretch free-throw marksmanship allowed the Gee-Gees to overcome Queen’s 95-87 for its fourth Wilson Cup. Queen’s led 28-15 and 47-40 after the first two quarter breaks. The game was deadlocked 64-64 after three quarters.

Ndjock-Tadjore scored the final 10 points of his stellar 29-point game in the fourth, while also grabbing six rebounds and one steal. Brock Newton contributed 16 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. Jacques-Melanie Guemeta added 15 points and six rebounds, while Dragan Stajic chipped in 11 points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists.

“It’s really special,” Ndjock-Tadjore, the game’s MVP, said via the OUA about winning the Gee-Gees’ second conference title in three years.

“Winning this with the guys you’ve been grinding with the whole season is an amazing feeling, but we’re not satisfied yet. We’re still aiming for the national title.”

Queen’s was led by OUA rookie of the year Ollie Engen with 28 points, six rebounds and three assists, while Luka Syllas managed 24 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and one assist.

Ottawa’s decisive win over Carleton in the OUA women’s championship game at the Ravens Nest saw the Gee-Gees elevated two spots to the No. 2 seed for the U Sports nationals, while the Ravens dropped a pair of places to No. 3.

The other top eight seeds for the national women’s championship tournament are: University of Saskatchewan Huskies (No. 1), Saint Mary’s University Huskies (No. 4), University of British Columbia Thunderbirds (No. 5), Bishop’s University Gaiters (No. 6), Laval University Rouge et Or (No. 7) and University of Alberta Pandas (No. 8).

The national championship bracket has the Gee-Gees playing Laval at 3 p.m. (Ottawa time) and the Ravens meeting Bishop’s at 4 p.m. in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Natsuki Szczokin sparked the Gee-Gees women’s victory with 22 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals. Emily Payne posted a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds. Bailey Russell came off the bench for 13 points and three rebounds, while Allie McCarthy had a full stats sheet with 11 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Kyana-Jade Poulin paced Carleton with 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. Noelle Kilbreath and Tatyanna Burke added 12 points each with the latter also contributing seven rebounds and six steals.

Read More: Gee-Gees overcome unbeaten Ravens to claim Critelli Cup in electric OUA final

Canada Topflight Academy had two reasons to celebrate as the Notre Dame High School-based team won the Platinum Circuit national title and the Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association Trillium title.

Tony House, the founder and head coach of CTA, called the double championship “one of the most memorable weekends of basketball for CTA.”

“It’s amazing to see all the hard work paying off and these young men earning everything they get,” House posted on LinkedIn. “A testament to buying in. They deserve everything they get.”

CTA Gold outscored Shawinigan Prep 75-69 in the Platinum Circuit championship game.

Mateo Andjelic made a shot at the buzzer as CTA edged Bill Crothers 57-56 in the semifinal. Logan Millar, who assisted on the winning semi-final basket, was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.

The only undefeated team in the circuit’s imbalanced regular-season schedule, CTA Gold won all eight games and placed third. The standings were based on the number of wins by each team. CTA Red was fourth at 7-4.

In the OSBA Trillium championship tournament, CTA Red defeated C.O.D.E. National 93-67 in the quarterfinals, Bond Academy 80-70 in the semifinals and St. Jude’s Academy Blues 75-55 in the final.

Capital Courts Academy surged to the OSBA women’s title by outscoring St. Jude’s Academy 90-60 in the semifinals and Crestwood Preparatory College 72-57 in the championship game.

PLENTY OF GOLD FOR SWIMMERS HUGO LEMESLE, OLIVIER RISK

Hugo Lemesle of the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees and Ottawa’s Olivier Risk of the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds live thousands of kilometres apart, but they had plenty in common at the U Sports national university swimming championships in Toronto.

Lemesle, who is from Nice, France, earned two gold and one silver medals in the men’s breaststroke events and came within one place of matching his three gold-medal performance at the 2024 nationals.

Risk struck gold twice and silver once in the men’s distance freestyle events.

Lemesle, a fourth-year finance student-athlete, scored his victories in the 50- and 200-metre breaststroke finals in respective times of 27.14 seconds and 2:08.06, while he was second in the 100-metre breaststroke in 59.48. He also set Gee-Gees records in all three races. The former marks were 27.39 for 50 metres, 59.81 for 100 metres and 2:09.90 for 200 metres.

A second-year forestry student-athlete, Risk placed first in the 400-metre final in 3:49.79. As the defending champion in the 1,500 metres, he finished second in 15:15.52.

Risk also was part of the winning men’s 4×200-metre relay team with Blake Tierney, Jake Gaunt and swimmer-of-the-meet Finlay Knox in 7:07.23.

Ottawa’s Maya McGhan anchored the McGill University Martlets to the silver medal in the women’s 4×200-metre freestyle relay in 8:07.88. Her teammates were Naomie Lo, Elizabeth Ling, and Iris Tinmouth.

The Gee-Gees also had two other swimmers qualify for A finals in individual races – Colin Shearer, sixth, men’s 200-metre individual medley, 2:02.14 and Grace Lu, eighth, women’s 50-metre breaststroke, 32.51.

Shearer also joined Jacob Mbobela, Noah Taylor and Alex Strople to place sixth in the men’s 4×200-metre freestyle relay in 7:25.65, and Isabelle Melanson, Raphaelle Lavoie, Rachel McInnes and Isabel Langridge were eighth in the women’s 4×200-metre freestyle relay in 3:51.01.

The Gee-Gees finished eighth in both the men’s and women’s team standings, which were both won by the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds. The Carleton University Ravens were 20th in the men’s standings.

GEE-GEES SHOT PUTTER JESSICA GYAMFI MAKES SCHOOL HISTORY

Jessica Gyamfi has become the first woman at the University of Ottawa to win a medal in a field event at the U Sports national university track and field championships.

Gyamfi earned the bronze medal in shot put with her best toss of 13.32 metres. Carleton University Ravens’ Brianna Asiamah was fourth and narrowly missed the podium at 13.29 metres.

Ottawa’s Cora McQuinn ran a strong first leg in the women’s 4×400-metre relay and watched her Western University Mustangs capture the bronze medal in 3:42.76.

Gee-Gees’ Vienna Courteau was eighth with 3,394 points in the women’s pentathlon, but placed fourth in the 60-metre hurdles and scored fifths in the long jump and shot put.

Carleton’s Joshua Foster placed fifth in the men’s triple jump at 14.72 metres, which eclipsed his school record of 14.60 metres.

BRONZE MEDAL FOR COLLINDA JOSEPH AT WORLD WHEELCHAIR CURLING FINALS

Collinda Joseph has earned a bronze medal at the world wheelchair curling championship in Stevenston, Scotland.

Joseph, who plays lead, second Douglas Dean, skip Gil Dash and fourth Jon Thurston recorded a 4-2 win over Slovakia to win the bronze medal at the 12-country worlds.

Canada led 1-0 after the second end, surrendered one in the fourth, and regained the advantage with one in the sixth. After Slovakia posted one in the seventh end to even the score at 2-2, Canada counted the final two points in the eighth to end the match.

“I feel amazing,” Joseph told World Curling in a story on its website. “It has been a really great week and the team played fantastic. We had a number of ups and downs this week so to walk away with the bronze medal is icing on the cake.

“They were so good. They didn’t miss anything. It was a back-and-forth battle. We all just stuck to our guns and played really well. Both teams executed really well so to come away with a win against a team like that today was fantastic.”

Canada finished the round robin in fifth place at 6-5. In the playoff qualification round, Canada downed Norway 6-4. But in the semifinal, China led 4-1 after four ends before winning 5-4.

LAST, BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST

· Derek Gee of Osgoode, ON, who captured his first overall stage championship at the O Gran Camino in Spain, is sixth overall and 34 seconds behind the leader, after the first two stages of the seven-day Tierreno-Adriatico stage race in Italy. He was sixth in the opening individual time trial and held his place after Tuesday’s second stage.

· Outside hitter Audrey Odigie of the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees was named to the OUA women’s volleyball first all-star team. She was ranked second in the conference in points at 335.5 and points per set at 4.4 as well as third in total kills at 278 and service aces at 42. She also was an RSEQ all-star for the 2023-24 season.

· Luke Allan of host Dartmouth College was fourth in the men’s 7.5-kilometre classic race and sixth in the 20-kilometre skate race at the NCAA nordic ski championships.

· Ottawa’s Trinity Lowthian won a bronze medal in women’s individual B epee at the recent para fencing World Cup in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Lowthian, the second seed, defeated Panadda Srithong of Thailand 15-11, but lost to third-seed and eventual winner Kristina Fiaklistava of NPA 15-4.

· Matthew Lepine, 17, earned a career-best finish on the North American Cup freestyle ski circuit at an event in Calgary. The 2023 world junior silver medallist was fourth in his qualifying heat and scored 77.42 points in the final to grab eighth place in the field of 65.

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