Ontario sweeps the U15 and U17 Women's National Championships in Edmonton

The U15 and U17 women's national championship came to a close tonight after 6 exciting days of basketball in Edmonton!

Stakes were placed on games throughout the day with every province looking to finish on as strong a note possible heading into the rest of summer.

Host Alberta U15 and U17 teams were able to finish 5th at the tournament, defeating U15 Nova Scotia 67 to 62 and U17 Quebec 65 to 49!

The U15 bronze medal was captured by Manitoba in a 53 to 45 win over a scrappy New Brunswick team. On the U17 side, Saskatchewan pulled off an improbable comeback against BC to win the bronze. The Saskatchewan team found themselves down 2 points with less than a minute to go, yet, somehow found a way to fight ahead to grab a 9 point win! Saskatchewan's incredible comeback was lead by Kyla Shand's 16 points and 7 rebounds. BC was lead by Sophie De Goede who finished with 13 pints and 5 rebounds.

In the gold medal games, the U15 division went first with Quebec taking on Ontario.

Ontario continued their dominance of the tournament right into the final with a 65 to 49 win.

Quebec was lead by the outstanding play of Roxanne Makalo-Mualuja's 18 points on 8 of 11 shooting from the field, 7 rebounds and 5 steals.

Ontario was led by Laeticia Amihere's 19 points and 8 rebounds and a 41 to 28 team rebounding advantage to win the gold!

The U17 division saw a similar result with Ontario defeating the defending champions, Manitoba, by a score of 67 to 55.

Ontario continued with the team style of play that saw them dominate throughout the tournament with 7 players contributing 6 points or more.

This brings a close to a fantastic 6 days of basketball. All the games were streamed live online with games that saw over 12,600 total views and over 183,000 minutes of game action watched! Thank you all those at home who tuned in!

An event like this could not run without the hard work of so many people. Thank you to the City of Edmonton, Saville Community Sports Centre and all the volunteers who generously donated their time to help this event be so successful. Thank you to Basketball Alberta and its staff for all the effort that went into organizing an event such as this. Thank you to all the fans and parents who made the trip to support their children and teams, creating an exciting atmosphere throughout the tournament!

Enjoy the rest of the summer basketball fans!