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Rams finish fourth at OFSAA hoops
Kings Christian squeezes out a 52-50 win in the bronze medal game
November 23, 2025
By Rob J. Ross
BELLEVILLE, Ont. - The St. Joseph's Rams showed they are one of the top girls basketball teams in the province.
St. Joe's finished fourth at OFSAA AA girls basketball, as the Kings Christian Cavaliers from Oakville, held off the Rams, 52-50, in the bronze medal game, Saturday at St. Theresa secondary school.
The game came down to the final eight seconds of regulation time, with the Rams holding possession, but Kings Christian making a game saving defensive play.
"I'm incredibly proud of the game. We got down. We fought. We were challenged in points of that game, where emotionally it was running hot and we had to settle it down and the girls stayed focused," Rams head coach Dave Fox said. "We kept pushing through a lot of different things that were affecting us in that game. We pushed back to make it a two point game and we had a chance to win that game."
St. Joe's opened with a quick 6-0 lead, but Kings Christian took over in the second quarter, with an 11-0 run, building a 31-18 lead by half-time.
Over the second half, the Rams battled back, making it a one point game, at 46-45, with three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
A Cavaliers' flagrant foul to Rams' Ella Ambrose was not called, causing Rams' coach Dave Fox to pick up a technical for pointing out the clear miss. The Caveliers hit a pair of free throws and a steal led to two quick points for a 51-45 advantage.
Rams Jaylin Campbell made it 51-50, with 72 seconds remaining, hitting a foul shot and putting the rebound in from her missed second foul shot.
"Third quarter and fourth quarter has often been our game a lot of the year where we come out flying," Fox said. "They (Kings Christian) weathered the storm pretty good. We came at them hard in the third and they pushed back too. They're a good team and number two ranked in the tournament for the reason. They didn't end up in the gold medal game, so they really wanted this one too."
Annalise Verbruggan led the Rams with 16 points, while Ella Ambrose had 10 and Campbell and Keilah Centen, nine points each.
In the semifinals, top seeded Thousand Islands Pirates defeated St. Joe's, 62-28.
E.L. Crossley from Fonthill in the Niagara region, squeezed by Thousand Islands, 35-34, for the gold medal.
For the Rams, the season certainly brought the unexpected and at times uncertainty.
"We knew we had a lot to work with. It was matter of how it was going to come together at the beginning of the season," Fox recalled. "There were a lot of ups and downs. We had days when this looks good and there's a possibility we're going to challenge for WOSSAA. Then there were days I thought, we don't quite have enough horses. Sometimes there were days. we were practising with five kids in the gym."
Injuries to senior players placed the Grade 10 players in to roles they may not have had and definitely gave them more court time.
"It's unfortunate that we had the injuries and our seniors couldn't enjoy this as much," said Fox. "The six that we had through all of the playoffs and they played most of the minutes here too, were incredible."
At OFSAA, the Rams brought several players from the junior team, all in Grade nine, for depth. The players just didn't sit on the bench either. All had minutes in the Rams' first two game, while Alyssa Luyks had floor time in both the semifinal and bronze game.
"We're really happy we brought them and they got great experience and got to see what it's all about," Fox said. "Everybody played a lot the first game."
The six strong as Fox called them, had an uncanny desire to keep playing determined ball no matter the score, whether holding a lead or trailing 10 or 15 points.
"That core group just doesn't believe that they're going to lose. That's it. They want to win," Fox said. "There hasn't been many instances this year, that they were even questioning it in the middle of the game. They were coming for it no matter what. We've had some tough games. Some times down a lot, yet, still pushing."
"They don't know to quit."
Note to opponents, all but one player returns next season and all of the six strong will actually be seniors.
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