OUA Women's Basketball All-Stars travel to Kingston for 8th annual OUA All-Star Game, presented by Recharge with Milk

HAMILTON, Ont. – The stars of Ontario University Athletics (OUA) women's basketball will be out on Saturday, May 9 as Queen's University plays host to the eighth annual OUA All-Star game, presented by Recharge with Milk. 

The game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. from the Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC), home of the Queen's Gaels.  Admission to the event is free.  If you can't make it to the ARC, you can catch all the action live on OUA.tv.

This year will feature a rematch between OUA finals coaches, Chantal Vallée of the Windsor Lancers and Carly Clarke of the Ryerson Rams. 

New this season, coaches were given the opportunity to draft their teams, with each team consisting of OUA all-stars and all-rookies.

Under head coach Carly Clarke, Ryerson has been a team on the rise the past couple of seasons and 2014-15 was a year of firsts for the Rams.  Ryerson established a new program record with 16 wins and also made their first OUA Final Four appearance in program history. The Rams also made their first trip to the CIS Final 8 tournament, where they would win their first national championship game in program history, defeating the Saint Mary's Huskies 76-60.

Coaching on the adjacent sideline from Clarke, Windsor head coach Chantal Vallée is in her tenth year at the helm of the Lancers.  Vallée led Windsor to an impressive 19-1 conference record and their sixth OUA title in the past seven seasons.  Once again this season, Vallée was named OUA Women's Basketball Coach of the Year. Under the guidance of Vallée, the Lancers made history this season, becoming just the second team in CIS history to claim five consecutive Bronze Baby trophies as national champions.

Joining Coach Vallée on the sidelines as a special guest assistant coach will be OUA alum and former McMaster Marauder, Hailey Milligan. Milligan was a two-time OUA first-team all-star and the 2013-14 Joy Bellinger award winner. The Brantford, Ont., native has played in two previous OUA All-Star games for the West and just finished her first season playing professional basketball for Aldast Strakonice in the Czech Republic.

No one player was more dominant in OUA women's basketball this season than Lakehead Thunderwolves guard Jylisa Williams (Atlanta, Ga.) and she will lead Team Vallée when they take to the court on Saturday.

In her second and final OUA season, Williams rewrote the OUA record books and put together one of the most dominant individual seasons in recent memory.  She set a new OUA single-season points record with 548 and broke the OUA single-game points record when she scored 50 against the Toronto Varsity Blues on Feb. 6.

Williams averaged an OUA and CIS leading 28.8 points per game on her way to being a unanimous selection for the 2014-15 OUA Player of the Year.  Her efforts were also recognized at the national level as she was named the CIS Player of the Year.

Hometown favourite and Queen's Gaels guard, Jenny Wright (Kingston, Ont.) will also suit up for Team Vallée on Saturday. Wright, a first-team all-star for the second consecutive year, led the Gaels averaging 13.8 points per game this season, while establishing herself as one of the best defensive players in the league.

Coach Vallée couldn't let Team Clarke draft all the Rams as Ryerson forward Sofia Paska (Etobicoke, Ont.) will play against her current coach for the first time in her OUA career.  Paska, the Rams second leading scorer, averaged 10.6 points per game this season and was named to the OUA all-rookie team.

The Golden Hawks were the only team to defeat the Windsor Lancers in the regular season and in an attempt to ensure they don't beat her again, Coach Vallée selected Laurier centre Whitney Ellenor (Pickering, Ont.) and guard Lee Anna Osei (Toronto, Ont.).

Laurier's leading scorer, Ellenor averaged 15.9 points per game and finished fifth in the conference averaging 8.9 rebounds.  She led the conference with 2.2 blocks per game and was named an OUA first-team all-star.  Osei was named an OUA second-team all-star after averaging 6.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.7 assists this season.

Guard Stephanie MacDonald (Ottawa, Ont.) finished sixth in the conference with 16.2 points per game and will be the lone Gee-Gees representative on Team Vallée.  MacDonald, a first-team selection this past season, averaged 5.1 total rebounds, and was ninth in the conference with 52 offensive boards.

One of the keys to success for Team Vallée will be controlling the glass and with three of the top five rebounders in the conference, they will look to do just that with the help of Guelph Gryphons centre Katherine MacTavish (Waterloo, Ont.). MacTavish not only averaged a league-leading 10.8 rebounds per game, but was the fifth-leading scorer in the conference averaging 16.5 points per game.

Windsor Lancers guard Jocelyn LaRocque (Windsor, Ont.) made history this season becoming one of the first women's basketball players in history to win five CIS national championship titles in her career and will dress for Coach Vallée one last time.  LaRocque, a second-team all-star this past season, averaged 11 points, 3.5 rebounds and finished seventh in the conference with 34 made three-pointers.

A pair of Mustangs guards will make the trip down the 401 as both Caroline Wolynski (London, Ont.) and Maddy Horst (Baden, Ont.) will be in Kingston for the game. Wolynski, who has was named to the second-team this season, finished second in team scoring, averaging 12.7 points to go along with 4.2 rebounds, while Horst finished just behind her at 10.7 points per game and was made an all-rookie team selection.

Rounding out Team Vallée will be Brock Badgers guard Melissa Tatti (Ancaster, Ont.). In just her first season, Tatti led the Badgers averaging 12.6 points per game and finished second in OUA in 3-pointers made with 46 and was selected to the OUA all-rookie team.   

Coach Clarke will see a couple of familiar faces when she looks down the bench on Saturday as Ryerson guards Keneca Pingue-Giles (Winnipeg, Man.) and Mariah Nunes (Ajax, Ont.) will be suiting up for Team Clarke. Pingue-Giles was the Rams lone first-team all-star selection this season after finishing fourth in the conference averaging 17.5 points per game, while Nunes was named an OUA second-team all-star after averaging 10.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 3.1 assists this season.

No one will likely receive as big a welcome Saturday night as Kingston native and Queen's Gaels guard, Liz Boag (Kingston, Ont.), who was named a second-team all-star this season. Boag averaged 13.1 points per game, along with 3.3 assists and 2.6 rebounds. Her 1.9 assist to turnover ratio was second best in the conference.

While both teams feature an abundance of talent, perhaps no player has as much upside as the reigning OUA Rookie of the Year, Guelph Gryphons guard Bridget Atkinson (Welland, Ont.). Atkinson finished second on the Gryphons averaging 10.9 points per game, ranked third in OUA with 4.6 assists per game, and averaged 5.3 rebounds in 18 games played.

Speaking of familiar faces, a trio of Marauders will be making the trip from the "Steel City" to Kingston for Saturday's game.  McMaster guard and first-team all-star Danielle Boiago (Hamilton, Ont.) will be joined by teammates and second-team all-stars Clare Kenney (Gananoque, Ont.) and guard Hilary Hanaka (Hamilton, Ont.).  Boiago finished third in OUA averaging 18.9 points per game, and her 360 points scored were second most in the conference, while Kenney and Hanaka averaged 14.7 and 11.5 points per game, respectively.

Team Clarke will lean heavily on fifth-year Toronto Varsity Blues guard Jill Stratton (Etobicoke, Ont.) for veteran leadership.  An OUA first-team all-star for a second consecutive season, Stratton was one of the league's most complete and reliable players, finishing seventh in OUA with 16.1 points per game, third in rebounds averaging 9.1 per game and second in made free-throws, while playing in all 19 of the Varsity Blues regular season games.

Ottawa Gee-Gees guard and OUA second-team all-star Krista Van Slingerland (Waterloo, Ont.) will also take to the court for Team Clarke. Van Slingerland finished second on the Gee-Gees averaging 11.4 points per game to go along with 4.8 rebounds, and a 50.3 field goal percentage that ranked seventh in the conference.

Rounding out Team Clarke will be Waterloo Warriors guard Amy Jarvis (Burlington, Ont.).  Jarvis was named to the OUA all-rookie team after averaging 11.0 points and 3.4 rebounds per game, while playing in all 20 of the Warriors regular season games.

The game itself will be just one of many events for the all-stars over the course of the weekend in Kingston.  On Friday evening, the OUA All-Stars will be attending the JUEL Banquet at the Ambassador Hotel & Conference Centre.  Prior to tip-off on Saturday evening, the OUA All-Stars will also take part in various community initiatives to help grow the game of basketball in Ontario.

The JUEL of Ontario is Canada's only Provincial Basketball League with franchises ranging from Windsor to Ottawa and north to Barrie.  JUEL is entering its fifth season of play in 2015 and features 27 (14 JUEL, 13 JUEL Prep) teams and roughly 350 players from across the province.

The eighth annual OUA Women's Basketball All-Star game is taking place thanks to a dedicated group of sponsors and partners including: presenting sponsor Recharge with Milk, official sponsor Wilson Sports Equipment of Canada and event partners Queen's Gaels Athletics, Ontario Basketball and JUEL of Ontario.

TEAM VALLEE
Coaches: Chantal Vallee (Windsor) & Hailey Milligan (McMaster)

TEAM CLARKE
Coaches: Carly Clarke (Ryerson)