Rams advance to OFSAA medal round  

   Rally from down 11 points to win quarterfinal and advance to day three's

   semifinals at the girls AA basketball tournament

  November 22, 2025

By Rob J. Ross

BELLEVILLE, Ont. -  A determined comeback means the St. Joseph's Rams will be bringing home an OFSAA girls basketball medal.

The four remaining teams will sort of the colour of medals Saturday, at the high school provincial AA tournament at St. Theresa secondary school.

The semifinals have the fourth seeded Rams facing top ranked Thousand Islands Pirates from Brockville, while number two Oakville Kings Christian takes on sixth seeded E.L. Crossley from Fonthill.

In their quarterfinal Friday, St. Joe's rallied in the second quarter from down 11 points, to defeat Orillia Patrick Fogarty.

"We don't give up. We're resilient. We have fought through a lot this season with injuries and difficult games," Rams coach Dave Fox said. "It's just the ability to keep pushing forward and there is no quit in the group. They've played tough games. They know how this works."

Patrick Fogarty jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the opening minutes, held a 17-10 advantage, after one quarter and 26-15,before the Rams ignited their comeback.

"They're (Fogarty) a good team. They were tough. They put a ton of pressure on us and shot the lights out in the first and second quarter," Fox said. "We had to weather a huge storm just to stay in the game. We lost Anna (Verbruggan) early to foul trouble. She didn't play part of the first and all of the second quarter. That's a big loss for us."

It was a one point game, 26-25, at recess.

"Our girls came off of the bench and they closed the gap," said Fox. "They kept the game within reach. They gave Anna a chance to come back and make a difference. Impressive from the whole group."

The Rams scoring was spread around, with Verbruggan having 14 points, Ella Ambrose, 13, Jaylin Campbell, 11, and Melissa Gillies, 10.

"That was one of our toughest games for sure," said Fox. "There were a number of things that could have turned us on our end, but we stayed calm. At no point did I feel any panic. They kept delivering every time they came down the floor."

Seemed the Rams wanted their Belleville visit to extend to a third day.

"It was if we lose this game, we go home and we do not want to go home," Rams' captain Melissa Gillies said. "We want to be top four and play for a medal. We really wanted it and we were pushing for it."

Now the Rams play for a medal.

"Hasn't sunk in yet," Fox said. "We've made it to medal day, but the job is not done."

Earlier in the day, St. Joe's disappointed a packed house disposing of the host team, St. Theresa, 69-47.

Verbruggan dropped a game high 25 points, while Ambrose had 14 and Allie Johnson, 10.

A 12-0 run by the Rams in the fourth quarter put the game away.

St. Joe's opened OFSAA with a 82-31 dunking of Toronto Bayview on Thursday.

"It's been really cool. Definitely a great experience," said Ambrose. "We're super grateful that we have the chance to be here."

The Rams' experience will be even more memorable bringing home hardware no matter the colour. It is OFSAA.

Semifinals are at 10 a.m.. Bronze game at 5:45 pm. Gold at 7:30 p.m.

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