The Kelowna Owls won two of three games and performed better than expected against one of the top teams in the Valley at their own junior girls basketball tournament on the weekend.
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All 11 players scored at least a point as the host Owls opened the two-day event at Kelowna Secondary School with a lopsided win over the Clarence Fulton Maroons of Vernon.
Katrina Fink led the Owls’ potent offence with 14 points while Japleen Chahal contributed nine points to the winning effort. Six-point performances came from Morgan Begg, Sophie Lachapelle, Nadia Jones and Olivia Koch.
Up against the highly-touted Penticton Lakers in semifinal play, the Owls gave the Peach City crew all it could handle, but came up short in a 44-41 decision.
Chahal’s 13 points was tops for the Owls in the losing cause while Fink and Koch added eight points apiece.
KSS claimed third place in the eight-team event by defeating the Vernon Panthers 41-20 in their final game. Chahal again set the pace offensively, scoring 14 points that included a trio of three-pointers. Fink chipped in with seven points and Begg added six for the winners.
The Summerland Rockets, considered the top-ranked team in the Okanagan early in the season, won the tournament with a lopsided victory in the championship game over Penticton, who opted to rest most of its starters after they played nearly the entire game against a tough KSS team in the semifinal earlier on Saturday.
Lexi Corday netted 29 points to lead the Summerland offence in the final that included 18 points from Briney Burdick. Jacqueline Mansiere, focusing on defence and contributing 10 points, was selected as the player of the game.
Meanwhile, the Owls are off to Langley this weekend to take part in a tournament at Walnut Grove Secondary School. They’ll play in a provincial qualifying tournament in mid-January and compete at the annual Sweet 16 junior tournament at Immaculata High School in Kelowna in late January.
Rounding out the KSS roster for this season are Riley Adams, Kelsey Hanson, Ally Wynn, Sydney Obst and Kristina Hardy. The coaches are Jeff Begg and Sean Davis.
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