Riverside's Avery Sussex (left) and Riverside's Grace Bradshaw turned in two of reporter Howard Tsumura's most impressive moments over the course of the BC senior girls high school basketball championships. And none of them had anything to do with statistics. (Photos by Wilson Wong and Garrett James property of Langley Events Centre, TFSE 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

The story of Grace and Avery: On a red-letter day for BC girls hoop, two high school seniors show, through their incredible selflessness, why our great game has never stopped doing what it does best!

LANGLEY — There is a good case to make for Saturday’s menu of four B.C. senior girls basketball provincial championship finals as the stuff which constitutes the greatest single day in the history of the girls high school game in this province.The Double-A, Triple-A and Quad-A games were all decided by six points, each characterized […]

A coach's tears of joy. Langley Christian head coach Danielle Gardner took a private moment amidst the celebration of her team's B.C. Double-A championship win over Mulgrave during Day 4 championship game play at the 2024 B.C. senior girls basketball championships March 2, 2024 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Varsity Letters 2024. All Rights Reserved)
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A Sunday Read: How this photo tells a thousand words about why our high school coaches coach! Here’s why I am writing about what Danie Gardner’s face says to me as her Langley Christian Lightning win B.C. girls Double-A title!

No. 3 LANGLEY CHRISTIAN 75  No. 1 MULGRAVE 69By Howard TsumuraLANGLEY — Somehow, somewhere amidst the sea of Langley Christian players, parents and most of all fans, the latter of whom just a minute or two prior had stormed the court at the Langley Events Centre, Lightning coach Danielle Gardner found a tiny sliver of […]

Burnaby Mountain's Aidan Lear (left) is defended by Vancouver College's Aidan Lear during opening-round play in the TBI Super 16 draw Wednesday at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2022 All Rights Reserved)
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Tsumura Basketball 2022: We’ve gone final for Day 1 of the TBI Super 16 draw! Game reports, photos and Thursday’s schedule are all here!

LANGLEY — We are complete here after Day 1 at the Tsumura Basketball Invitational’s senior boys Super 16 draw.THURSDAYQUARTERFINALS (all games at Centre Court)3:30 p.m. — Kelowna vs. St. Patricks5 p.m. — Burnaby South vs. Enver Creek6:45 p.m. — Vancouver College vs. Fleetwood Park8:15 p.m. — Oak Bay vs. Sir Winston ChurchillWEDNESDAY’S GAMESVANCOUVER COLLEGE 83 […]

Lord Byng point guard Eli Mullin (left) drives past Brookswood's Logan Stewart at the 2022 Tsumura Basketball Invitational Wednesday at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2022 All Rights Reserved)
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WE’RE COMPLETE! DAY 1 at Tsumura Basketball 2022: Complete game reports from our senior boys Rising 8 draw!

We are now complete after Day 1 of the inaugural Rising 8 bracket here at the 2022 Tsumura Basketball Invitational.SCHEUDLETHURSDAYSEMIFINALS(games at South Court)6:45 p.m.– Spectrum vs. Lord Byng8:15 p.m. — Steveston London vs. North DeltaFor a complete report of the Local 8 tournament, please go to the bottom of this story for a filing from […]

The Langley Christian Lightning waited two years for a celebration that came via a fourth-quarter rally on Saturday. (Photo by Howard Tsumura 2022 property of Varsity Letters. All Rights Reserved)
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Two years after 2020’s heartbreaking B.C. title-game loss, trust in each other carries Langley Christian Lightning past Mulgrave Titans to a redemptive 2022 B.C. Double-A title!

LANGLEY — The past two years have left all of us with plenty of moments for deep contemplation, and for Langley Christian senior girls basketball coach Danielle Gardner, it’s meant among other things, time spent re-affirming the trust she’s always had in her own process as a coach of young women.If you think that is […]

The Langley Christian Lightning seem ready to make a third run at the thus-far elusive B.C. senior girls Double A basketball championship title this March at the Langley Events Centre. It's a quest being led by the team's talented trio of seniors (left to right) Taelor Coxford, Sydney Bradshaw and Lainey Shelvey. (Photo graphic by Gabriel Lynn, photos by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

The ‘Strikes Thrice’ magic of the Langley Christian Lightning! In a tier-free girls high school basketball world, might Double-A powers be BC’s No. 1 overall team?

LANGLEY — Imagine a B.C. girls high school basketball world without any tiers of classification.Instead, replace it with a soup pot of sorts in which every team in the province is thrown together to form a chowder-like broth.Bring to a boil.Cover.Simmer.Let the cream rise to the top.And when you lift that cover, who might you […]

Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers' rising senior guard Alyza Aikins will lead her team into the 2020 Tsumura Basketball Invitational this December at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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Twenty teams for TBI 2020! Our roster for the annual senior girls Tsumura Basketball Invitational features B.C.’s best of the best!

LANGLEY — Our collective fingers are crossed with the hope that a safe fall and winter season is on the horizon for high school sports in the province of B.C.And in the spirit of that positivity, we hope that one of the final highlights of a challenging 2020 calendar year will be the latest edition of […]

With York House's Nadeen Wu in pursuit, Langley Christian's Sydney Bradshaw turns a corner in the key during fourth quarter action from Friday's B.C. 2A semifinal contest at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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They’ve put ‘The Shot’ behind them! No. 1 seed Langley Christian top York House to earn B.C. finals berth vs. No. 2 Britannia

LANGLEY — Makenna Gardner remembers the pain of ‘The shot’, and now that she and her Langley Christian teammates have officially exorcised the memories of last season’s B.C. semifinal OT loss to the G.W, Graham Grizzlies, it’s time for the Lightning to officially set its site on the school’s first B.C. girls basketball title.Sydney Bradshaw […]

It's a battle of 10th graders Saturday at the Centennial Top 10 Shoot-Out as Langley Christian's Sydney Bradshaw (left) guards Terry Fox's Alisha Weloy. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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Centennial Top 10 Shoot-Out 2020: Double-A No. 1 Langley Christian’s Grade 10 duo of Shelvey and Bradshaw shines in win over Terry Fox

COQUITLAM — It seems there is a youth movement wherever you care to look these days in the B.C. senior girls high school basketball world.From teams comprised almost entirely of underclassmen, to those with quality smatterings of non-seniors, that was clearly the theme of this week’s 2020 Top 10 Shoot-Out at here at Centennial Secondary.And […]

Langley Christian's Sydney Bradshaw finds a gap in the Kelowna defence during third-place game at 2019 TBI, Saturday at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
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TBI 2019 Girls: Double-A Langley Christian tops Quad-A Kelowna for third as BC’s largest tier denied gold, silver and bronze

LANGLEY — When the 2019 girls Tsumura Basketball Invitational tipped off Wednesday afternoon, eight teams from the B.C. Top 10 Quad-A rankings, issued that very day, were among the event’s 20-team field.By the time Saturday’s third-place game concluded however, there was not a single team left standing in the quest for gold, silver or bronze […]