WCI Red Devil junior basketball girls looking beyond WOSSAA AA title to future opportunities

The Woodstock CI junior girls’ basketball team capped a 22-1 2025 season with a 62-26 victory over St. Thomas St. Joe’s in the WOSSAA AA championship game on Nov. 12 in Listowel. (Contributed Photo)

Jeff Tribe, Echo Correspondent

Sports coaches frequently remind players not to look too far ahead, emphasizing the importance of focusing on the game at hand.

But looking beyond has become a fact of athletic life for Woodstock CI junior girls’ basketball guard Avery Molinaro and forward Brooke Halward.

“Oh yeah, we are,” smiled the former.

“OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championships) was our goal since our first practice of Grade 9,” added Halward, a more-than-interested observer at eldest brother Jaxson’s OFSAA experience in Timmins while she was in Grade 8, and last year’s silver provincial medal earned by sibling Will’s team right at home in Woodstock as a Grade 9.

The junior Red Devils marked an important milestone on that lofty longer-term goal on Wednesday, Nov. 12 at Listowel District Secondary School, dominating Western Ontario Secondary Schools Athletics Association (WOSSAA) AA competition en route to a girls’ basketball championship victory.

The ‘beasts of the TVRA Southeast’ opened with a 58-8 semi-final win over London John Paul II Jaguars, making it official with a 62-26 clincher against perennial powerhouse St. Thomas St. Joe’s in the final.

“The start was close, I was nervous,” admitted WCI point guard Reese Crown.

“But when our nerves left, we just closed out,” said Halward.

Crown had nine of her game-high 18 points in the first quarter of the gold medal final. Natalie Sutherland added 14, Halward and Jillian Trepanier six, Avery Molinaro and Jennyson Mazur-Hanagan four apiece, Isabella Perkins, Brooklyn Donais, Rudy Kalbfleisch and Hannah Thistlewaite a field goal each, and Addison Weicker two free throws.

The previous week, WCI had beaten St. Joe’s 47-27 in the TVRA Southeast AA championship game, qualifying with a 51-30 semi-final victory over the Aylmer East Elgin Eagles. The Eagles hung with the Red Devils through the first eight minutes, tenacious defence holding WCI to a modest 9-5 advantage.

“They had an aggressive defence,” credited Halward. “They were all over us. We didn’t get any easy baskets for sure.”

The Red Devils began executing better offensively in the second quarter, breaking the game open with a 19-2 run, featuring a half-dozen points from Sutherland, five from Halward and four from Kalbfleisch.

“Started playing as a team with good passes,” Halward summed up. “It was a good game,” she added. “Good to play in our home gym too.”

“It’s a different energy in here,” Sutherland agreed.

Halward finished with 14 points, Sutherland hit double digits with ten, Brooklyn Donais, Crown, Thistlewaite and Layla Graham each scored four, Perkins a three-point field goal, Avery Molinaro a two-pointer and Trepanier two free throws. Lonsi Begemann had 11 points to pace East Elgin with Shelby Adams adding seven.

The win qualified WCI both for the TVRAA AA Southeast final and one of two available WOSSAA AA berths for the division. The Red Devils entered the regional draw as top seed on the strength of a 47-27 win over St. Joe’s on Nov. 6 at WCI.

“An amazing season,” said coach Eric Molinaro, celebrating his 47th birthday along with the WOSSAA AA title. The Red Devils finished with a 22-1 won-lost record, including an undefeated TVRA Southeast season and tournament wins in two of three attended. WCI’s lone defeat came at the hands of London Catholic Central, one of seven AAA opponents faced during the campaign.

To be fair, said Molinaro, St. Joe’s elevated four of its best Grade 10 girls’ basketball players to the senior ranks, bolstering the team at that level.

“We knew they weren’t at their best,” he said, predicting a full-throttle challenge in the future. “It’s going to be a battle for the AA schools at senior.”

Molinaro is among those looking forward, given a historical perspective shared with assistant coach Kyle Graham, reaching back well before high school. Nine of 17 current roster members used to play together with the Oxford Attack program.

“We all played together, I just know how they play,” said Crown, a Grade 9 point guard . “And we came together as a team.”

That level of community hoops experience and interest, combined with WCI’s well-established basketball program, led to the wheels turning on a successful 2027 senior girls’ AA basketball OFSAA bid, building on last year’s A boys’ event.

“We knew we could pull it off for the girls as well,” said Molinaro.

Partly in preparation, partly standard operating procedure, he and assistant coach Graham kept 17 players on this year’s junior roster, dressing 15 per game. As well as supporting broader development, those numbers protect against potential attrition to other commitments or interests as the program matures. As hosts, the Red Devils will receive an automatic berth into a 2027 AA OFSAA draw they also intend to be competitive in.

In conclusion, the team is not looking beyond its next game, or for that matter, the next season.

“But as a program, we knew what the potential was,” Molinaro concluded.

TVRAA AA SENIOR GIRLS BASKETBALL

The Woodstock CI Red Devils seniors’ season ended on Nov. 4 with a 41-21 semi-final loss to St. Joe’s in St. Thomas. The Woodstock College Avenue Knights also advanced to senior semis, dropping a 36-16 decision to St. Thomas Parkside. St. Joe’s ultimately prevailed 54-42 in the final.

2025 Girls Captains-Veterans Basketball Game

The annual junior/senior captains-veterans doubleheader is scheduled for Nov. 20 at Woodstock CI’s Devildome. The junior game will feature Team Black (Woodstock CI, Ingersoll DCI and Woodstock College Avenue) tipping off at 6 p.m. against Team Blue, featuring representation from Woodstock St. Mary’s, Huron Park, Tillsonburg Glendale and Lord Dorchester.

The senior game will follow at 7:45, with Team Black (WCI, St. Mary’s and IDCI) against Team Blue (CASS, Huron Park, Glendale and Dorchester).

All proceeds from the evening will go toward the WCI Festive Campaign for CAS.