York to host tenth annual OUA Women's Basketball All-Star game on Saturday

BURLINGTON, Ont. – The stars of Ontario University Athletics (OUA) women's basketball will be out on Saturday, April 29 as York University plays host to the tenth annual OUA Women's Basketball All-Star game, presented by Peel Regional Police.

The game is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m. from the Tait McKenzie Centre, home of the York Lions.  Admission to the event is free.  If you can't make it to the Tait McKenzie Centre, you can catch all the action live on OUA.tv as former OUA all-stars Kelcey Wright and Mariah Nunes will have the call.

Saturday's game will see 2016-17 OUA Coach of the Year Dave Wilson, head coach of the Queen's Gaels, take on hometown favourite and head coach of the York Lions, Erin McAleenan.

Team Wilson will be led by McMaster Marauders fifth-year guard Danielle Boiago (Hamilton, Ont.).  Boiago, the OUA and U SPORTS Player of the Year, appeared in all 19 games this year and led the conference averaging 25.5 points per 40 minutes and was also named OUA Defensive Player of the Year as well.

Joining Boiago will be fellow first-team all-star Emily Prevost (Montreal, Que) from the Windsor Lancers.  Prevost, a fourth-year human kinetics major, led OUA in both offensive (73) and defensive (135) rebounds and was the Lancers top scorer, finishing in the top 10 with 14.5 points per game.

When Coach Wilson looks down the bench on Saturday, he'll see a couple familiar faces as Gaels forwards Robyn Pearson (Toronto, Ont.) and Andrea Priamo (Guelph, Ont.) along with guard Emily Hazlett (Fredericton, N.B.) are all back in the fold.

Pearson and Priamo protected the paint all season long for the Gaels, while Hazlett was the catalyst of a Gaels high-powered offence that averaged the second-most points per game in the province.

uOttawa Gee-Gees guard Sarah Besselink (Kingston, Ont.) and Ravens forward Elizabeth Leblanc (London, Ont.) will be making the trip to Toronto Saturday from the nation's capital.  Besselink led the Gee-Gees averaging 13.8 points per game, while Leblanc was instrumental in the Ravens first Critelli Cup OUA championship title in program history.

Representing Ryerson, guard Nicole DiDomenico (Niagara Falls, Ont.) and all-rookie Bronwyn Williams (Toronto, Ont.) have also been selected to Team Wilson.  Known not only for her accomplishments off the court, but in the community and the classroom, DiDomenico was this year's OUA nominee for the Joy Bellinger Award.

Rounding out Team Wilson is Laurier Golden Hawks fifth-year guard Kaitlyn Schenck (Kitchener, Ont.) who was named an OUA an all-star for the first time in her career after leading the team in scoring, averaging 15.4 points per game.

Success for Team McAleenan on Saturday begins with a pair of Ryerson Rams as forward Sofia Paska (Etobicoke, Ont.) and guard Kellie Ring (Ottawa, Ont.) both have the ability to completely take over the game.

Paska was named an OUA first-team all-star for the second consecutive season after averaging 18.5 points and 10.4 rebounds, while Ring finished third in OUA with 81 assists and ranked inside the top ten in league scoring with 14.6 points per game in her fifth and final season.

From one set of teammates to another, Bridget O'Reilly (Seaforth, Ont.) and freshman phenom Nikki Ylagan (Mississauga, Ont.) from the Lakehead Thunderwolves hope to turn a successful season playing together into a victory for Team McAleenan on Saturday.

Mustangs guard Mackenzie Puklicz (London, Ont.) and forward Julia Curran (Waterloo, Ont.), second-team all-stars in 2016-17, will infuse some purple into Team McAleenan.  In a season that saw them reach the quarter-finals following a shocking upset of uOttawa in the opening round, Puklicz and Curran combined to average 29.5 of the Mustangs 59.5 points per game.

In her third season with the Marauders, Linnaea Harper (Newmarket, Ont) finished second in team scoring behind Boiago after averaging 12.6 points per game and will be looked to on Saturday to try and contain her former teammate.

Despite an injury shortened season, Brock Badgers forward Kira Cornelissen (Aylmer, Ont.) has been named an OUA all-star for the first time in her career and will suit up for Team McAleenan this weekend. The Alymer, Ont. native led OUA with 20.2 points per game and finished fourth in rebounding, averaging 10.3 boards.

Two-time OUA first-team all-star and Golden Hawks guard Nicole Morrison (Hamilton, Ont.) will represent Laurier as a member of Team McAleenan on Saturday.  Appearing in 19 games this season, Morrison averaged 14.9 points per game to finish second on the team behind teammate (but rival for Saturday) Kaitlyn Schenck .

After being named to the all-rookie team in 2016-17, Bridget Mulholland (Kingston, Ont.) will represent her hometown team as she rounds out the squad for Team McAleenan.

OUA has partnered with an officials symposium on the event as attendees of a female-only officials development camp will be on hand to observe two groups of mentors that have been selected to officiate the game.

The tenth annual OUA Women's Basketball All-Star game is taking place thanks to our dedicated partners, including York University, Peel Regional Police and JUEL of Ontario, an independent provincial league, providing opportunities for players throughout the province.

Team Wilson
 
Robyn Pearson – Queen's Gaels
Emily Hazlett – Queen's Gaels
Andrea Priamo – Queen's Gaels
Nicole DiDomenico – Ryerson Rams
Bronwyn Williams – Ryerson Rams
Danielle Boiago – McMaster Marauders
Emily Prevost – Windsor Lancers
Sarah Besselink – uOttawa Gee-Gees
Kaitlyn Schenck – Laurier Golden Hawks
Elizabeth Leblanc – Carleton Ravens

Team McAleenan

Sofia Paska – Ryerson Rams
Kellie Ring – Ryerson Rams
Linnaea Harper – McMaster Marauders
Kira Cornelissen – Brock Badgers
Mackenzie Puklicz – Western Mustangs
Julia Curran – Western Mustangs
Nicole Morrison – Laurier Golden Hawks
Bridget O'Reilly – Lakehead Thunderwolves
Nikki Ylagan – Lakehead Thunderwolves
Bridget Mulholland – Queen's Gaels