Owls strike gold and silver in Rainy River!

By Ken Johnston
Editor

With all the exploration for gold and other minerals in the area, prospectors and citizens needed not look far last week as two Rainy River High School teams struck gold and silver!
Hosting the NORWOSSA playoffs for boys volleyball and girls basketball, RRHS had two teams competing; both jr. and sr. girls basketball.
The junior team met Atikokan in the gold medal game. As it was all season, it was all RR as they struck first and defended well. At the 5:11 mark Emily Whetzel drew first blood for the Owls. Then Myan Miller scored ten and Skylar Arpin five unanswered points to put the Owls out front 17-0 after one quarter. Meghan Vogan pegged four, Kendra Moen two, Hayley Arpin two and Moriah Carradice two to extend the lead to 23-0 before Atikokan scored a lone point on a foul shot at 4:16. Both teams would add two more each, Moen picking up RR’s to see the score end the half at 29-3.
In the third quarter the Owls continued to dominate with Vogan scoring four and Hailey Desserre two. Atikokan scored four to end the quarter down 35-7.
In the final quarter the Owls iced the victory with Vogan scoring two, Miller four and Whetzel two to win 41-16.
This gave them NORWOSSA gold, and an end to their season. NORWOSSA is as far as junior teams can go.
In senior action, RR faced their arch-rivals, the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints of Kenora. RR had beaten them by one point the previous week to earn the right to host NORWOSSAs. Both teams were evenly matched but it was not to be Rainy’s day.
Kenora scored five points before RR was on the board when Kaylee Heyens picked up a point on a foul shot.
Courtney Hansen then narrowed the gap with two points, making it 3-5 at 4:19.
It was an aggressive game and just after Hansen’s points a Saints player was injured and helped off the court.
The Saints returned fire with six baskets before Heyens put two in for RR.
Shauna Moen and Kathryn Clifford picked up two each for RR but at the end of the first quarter the Saints were ahead 17-7.
In the second quarter Madison Boisvert scored a quick two, later to be followed by Hansen, Chelsea Brown and Heyens all scoring for a total of 15-23 at the half.
Kenora came out strong and quick in the second half with five points before Heyens nailed a three pointer to keep RR in the hunt. She would later add two more to end the quarter with RR down 24-31.
The Owls increased pressure on the Saints but could not buy baskets with countless shots bouncing off the rim. In the end the Owls lost but won silver. Scoring in the final quarter for RR was Jaylene Anderson (2), Brown (3), Hansen (2). Final score was 36-42, with Kenora advancing to NWOSSAs.