AA Girl’s Championship Preview

By NBHoopsNews
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Updated: February 20, 2020

Republished with permission of NB Hoops News

Someone forgot to tell us that Cinderella was invited to the Ball. One of these teams was not even in the top ten for part of this season. The other has never won this title game. The 2019-2020 Girls AA Championship game will be one to remember for both teams.

The final game of the year for AA Girls basketball will feature the 5th ranked Rothesay Netherwood Riverhawks and the #3 ranked Fundy Middle and High Mariners. For the Riverhawks, they were outside the top ten on week two of our rankings and did not crack the top ten until December. They have one AA Girls title to their credit. On the other side, we have the Mariners from Fundy. They have never won a Girls AA title and were so very close last season until the heartbreak of a TD Station loss to Rothesay High School. Fundy has the experience and the memory of last year. Rothesay Netherwood has a Cinderella story to finish writing with one chapter left. AA Girls – Going to be a great game no matter who takes it.

The Riverhawks are heading to the Station led by All-Star Sophie Milner and scoring sensation Ally McLellan. For the Mariners, they will be led by All-Star and UNB Reds recruit, Erin Ingalls. There will be several girls playing here with Basketball New Brunswick team experience.

With both teams playing out of the AA South League they have met head to head this season. There were three games played between the two. The first league game was on December 5th, in Rothesay. The Mariners came into town and blew the Riverhawks out 95 – 62. There next meeting would be a January 26th game where RNS were fighting for their playoff lives. The Riverhawks flew into St. George and soared to victory 58 – 44 over the Mariners. The third meeting was back in St. George as Fundy and RNS would play in the Regional Semi-final game. Fundy takes the game 69 – 55.

Rothesay Netherwood finished 7 – 3 in the South. They eliminated the St. Stephen Spartans in their final league game where a loss would have eliminated the Riverhawks from postseason play. It was that close. RNS split the season series with Rothesay, Fundy and St. Stephen. With the Riverhawks making it to regionals as the third seed from the South, they would play another elimination game against Southern Victoria in their first game. RNS win in an upset 70 – 52. They make it to the Regional Semi-final and take that 14 point loss to Fundy. They play the 3rd place game against a Woodstock team that has been highly ranked all year and RNS win that one 69 – 54. RNS will play in the South West Sectional at Rothesay High. In the Sectional Semi-final, they get former number 1 James M Hill. Another game, another upset. Riverhawks win 64 – 61. They make the Sectional final and are now 1 win away from TD Station. In their way are cross-town rivals from Rothesay High School. RHS just defeated the Riverhawks by 30+ late in the season in league play. RNS gives us one more massive upset, a 67 – 51 win and the Riverhawks keep their dream season alive. Will we see their playoff heroics one more time?

The Fundy Middle & High Mariners finished 8 – 2 in the very tough Southern league. They were tied with the Rothesay High Red Hawks, but the Mariners held the tie-breaking advantage to secure first place and hosting rights for the South West Regional. The Mariners kick-started their playoff run with the Regional Semi-final win over RNS 69 – 55. They would meet Rothesay High in the Regional Final to see who would host the South West Sectionals. The Red Hawks would win 73 – 69 and the Mariners would take the 2nd seed and head to Salisbury for the North East Sectional. The Mariners would get North East number 3 seed Tantramar in their Sectional Semi-final game. The Fundy girls would win that one 66 – 48. In the North East Sectional final, the Mariners would play the Woodstock Thunder for the right to play at TD Station this Saturday. This was a close game throughout until the Mariners pulled away for the 67 – 51 victory and a chance to go back to TD Station to hopefully make up for last year’s heartbreaking loss.

When the dust settles on this one, we are going to have a storybook ending to a Cinderella story or a first-time champion who came back to take care of unfinished business from last year. Either way, you won’t want to miss it – 6:00 PM Saturday.

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