Teammates at Queen’s for four years, Kingston’s Liz Boag and Jenny Wright will be on opposing teams Saturday for the eighth annual Ontario University Athletics women’s basketball all-star game at the Queen’s Athletics and Recreation Centre.
Game time is 7:30 p.m.
Instead of an East vs. West format as in past years, this time the teams were chosen from among the year-end all-conference and all-rookie teams in a draft by the coaches of the two OUA finalists, Chantal Vallee of the Windsor Lancers and Carly Clarke of the Ryerson Rams.
Boag, a La Salle Secondary School grad who just finished her fifth year with the Gaels, was chosen by Clarke, while Wright, a Regiopolis Notre Dame grad who was a first-team all-star for the second year in a row, was selected by Vallee.
Also playing in Saturday’s game for Team Clarke will be Gananoque’s Clare Kenney, another former Regi Panther now with the McMaster Marauders.
Jylisa Williams of the Lakehead Thunderwolves, the Canadian Interuniversity Sport player of the year, will play for Team Vallee. She led Canada with 28.8 points per game this year, and established new OUA records for points in a season (548) and points in a game (50, against Toronto on Feb. 6).
The new format introduced another interesting situation, as Ryerson’s Sofia Paska, a member of the OUA’s all-rookie team, will be playing for Team Vallee against Clarke, her coach at Ryerson.
The all-star game coincides with the championship tournament of the Ontario Juel League, the premier youth league for girls in the province, a three-day event that is being hosted by Queen’s starting Friday.
Team Clarke
Bridget Atkinson (Guelph), Liz Boag (Queen’s), Danielle Boiago (McMaster), Hilary Hanaka (McMaster), Amy Jarvis (Waterloo), Clare Kenney (McMaster), Mariah Nunues (Ryerson), Keneca Poingue-Giles (Ryerson), Jill Stratton (Toronto), Krista Van Slingerland (Ottawa).
Team Vallee
Whitney Ellenor (Laurier), Maddy Horst (Western), Jocelyn LaRocque (Windsor), Stephanie MacDonald (Ottawa), Katherine MacTavish (Guelph), Lee Anna Osei (Laurier), Sofia Paska (Ryerson), Melissa Tatti (Brock), Jylissa Williams (Lakehead), Caroline Wolynski (Western), Jenny Wright (Queen’s).