Considered the top two teams in the province going into the B.C. junior high school girls basketball championship tournament, the Kelowna Owls and St. Thomas Aquinas Fighting Saints of North Vancouver have lived up to expectations.
The Owls (No. 1) and STA (No. 2) remained undefeated and took care of business in their semifinal games at the Langley Events Centre and will meet for the provincial championship on Saturday beginning at 2:45 p.m.
A 53-38 triumph over the No. 13-ranked Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers of Surrey earned the Owls their berth in the title match, while Aquinas downed the No. 14 Robert Bateman Timberwolves of Abbotsford 49-30 for the right to meet the Okanagan Valley champions.
A 20-point performance by player-of-the-game, Jaeli Ibbetson, set the pace for the Kelowna Secondary School representatives. Jordan Kemper added nine points to the cause while Kyara Klempner and Jenna Holland each pitched in with eight.
The Owls, winners of their first two games — 45-38 over Heritage Woods and 55-38 against Seycove of North Vancouver — took a 12-8 lead in the first quarter, and after going on a 21-11 run, led 33-19 at the half. While Tweedsmuir pushed back to within 12 points in the third quarter, KSS took a 45-30 lead into the final quarter.
“It was another great defensive effort,” said coach Brady Ibbetson. “We got the stops when we needed them and controlling the boards went a long way in us securing the win.”
The Owls will have their hands full under the basket on Saturday as St. Thomas Aquinas has brought up two six-foot-plus forwards from their 2017 provincial Grade 9 championship team — the one that defeated the KLO Cougars of Kelowna in the title match.
“It should be a great matchup,” said head coach Kim Przybyl (Whelpton), who guided the KSS juniors to a provincial bronze medal last season. “I’m looking forward to watching our girls battle hard.”
Trailing for most of the game and by as much as 14 points midway through the third quarter, the Immaculata Mustangs battled back for a 77-75 win over the Ballenas Whalers of Parksville at the B.C. School Sports senior AA girls basketball championship on Friday in Langley.
University of Victoria-bound Ashlyn Day scored 48 points, including 20 in the fourth quarter, while grabbing 21 rebounds to lead the fifth-seed Mustangs. They’ll make a bid for a fifth-place finish in their final game of the 16-team tournament on Saturday against the No. 10 Britannia Bruins of Vancouver beginning at 11:30 a.m.
Fellow provincial-team player, Kate Johnson, contributed 25 points for Immaculata, who led for only 1:56 of the game. The Mustangs trailed 20-19 at the quarter, 36-31 at the half and 56-49 before Day went on a rampage against the No. 9-ranked team.
Immaculata was coming off an 89-57 quarter-final loss to the No. 4 South Kamloops Titans on Thursday in which Day was injured and saw limited action in the second half. On opening day, the Mustangs defeated the No. 12 College Heights Cougars of Prince George 83-63.
Meanwhile, the Okanagan Mission Huskies seeded No. 8 prior to the provincials will garner their best-ever finish at a provincial AA tournament.
In a well-rounded effort from just eight players against the Southridge Storm of Surrey on Friday, the injury-riddled Huskies posted a 71-60 come-from- behind win for the right to play in the 9th/10th-place game on Saturday against the Duchess Park Condors of Prince George. Game time is 10 a.m.
Player-of-the-game, Jordan Robb, scored 16 points, hauled in five rebounds and had four assists to lead the Huskies, who also received a 14-point, seven-assist performance from Hannah Walline. Rheanne Mitchell, Jordyn Pink and Kiara Gaspari all contributed 10 points.
The Huskies trailed 20-10 after the first quarter, but they found their shooting range and hit four three-pointers on the way to taking a 38-28 lead by the half. It was 54-40 going into the fourth quarter.
“Being down to eight players, we focused on ‘grit’,” said assistant coach Cassidy deVeer. “We knew if we wanted to be successful, we needed to dig deep and play hard. And that’s just what the girls did.”
The Huskies opened the 16-team tournament by dropping a 65-53 decision to Ballenas, but bounced back by defeating David Thompson 76-24 on Thursday.
The Kelowna Owls earned their second win in three games at the B.C. School Sports senior AAA girls basketball championship on Friday and will play for fifth place on Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.
A 71-62 win over the Argyle Pipers of North Vancouver earned the No. 6-ranked Owls a meeting with pre-tournament No. 1 Oak Bay of Victoria in the fifth/sixth-place matchup beginning at 4:30 p.m.
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