The Madd Dawg midgets played a major role in deciding who would be crowned this year's OBA Division 6 champs in London.

Unfortunately they couldn't quite claim the title for themselves.

Despite its eighth-place ranking, the local cagers steam-rolled to the semifinals, where a spirited two-way effort through a chippy and emotionally-charged affair saw them stun the top-seeded Scarborough Blues 50-40.

"Lots of girls were hurt with elbows, pushes and hard fouls, but they would not be intimidated," said Brian Schroder, who coached the team alongside Rob Samuels. "It was a gutsy win."

Felicia Samuels and Alex Schroder -- who missed the previous day's action with a re-aggravated knee injury -- led offensively with 10 and eight points respectively.

Standing out with a big rebounding and defensive effort was Devan O'Connor, while Lauren Furik and Catharine Manning helped neutralize Scarborough's attack as well.

Banged up and mentally drained from the upset victory, Milton just couldn't counter the topnotch shooting of Huntsville in the final -- missing too many shots and being upstaged 50-43.

A couple of blatant defensive lapses didn't help matters either.

Noted Schroder, "The girls just seemed fatigued after that big semifinal win."

O'Connor collected a dozen points in the gold-medal clash, while Schroder chipped in eight.

Championship heartbreak aside, netting OBA silver was a credible conclusion to a season marked with inconsistent play and many disappointing tournament finishes.

The Madd Dawgs had put the brakes on that slump with an overall triumph at the Guelph CYO showcase just prior to the provincials, and built on that momentum with a perfect round-robin campaign in London -- with wins over Hamilton (50-40), Lakeshore (62-24) and Newmarket (48-19).

From there they disposed of East Toronto 56-31 in the quarterfinals, with Furik, Kristie Laidlaw and Taylor Burns each hitting a couple of three-pointers.

Pretty much everyone reached the score-sheet in the convincing win, with half-a-dozen players recording six or more points.

Rounding out the silver medalists were Katrien Ecclestone, Courtney Germain, Sarah Jebbison and Tori Pickering.