The 24-team B.C. junior girls basketball championship draw is now live! LEC
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Walnut Grove takes No. 1 seed in 2018 BC junior girls draw, enviable depth on hand for head coach Grant Inkster

LANGLEY — Fraser Valley teams have taken the top three seeds for the 2018 B.C. junior girls basketball championships set to tip off Feb. 28 at the Langley Events Centre. 

Langley’s Walnut Grove Gators, taking a 24-4 record and a Fraser Valley title into the proceedings, have been installed as the No. 1 seed (draws included below).

It’s depth, as head coach Grant Inkster told Varsity Letters on Monday, has been a huge key to their success this season.

“One top tier coach replied after we had played them for the third time this year ‘Every time we play Walnut Grove, it’s a different player that beats us,’” relayed Inkster.

“I believe that is why we have been successful,” he continued. “We do not rely on one or two players to carry the load every game. We have our starters, rotate our other players in to provide support and capitalize on which of the starters has the hot hand on that given night. Everyone is super supportive of each other and the bench chemistry is very evident during our games. The enthusiasm has been infectious.

Langley’s Brookswood Bobcats have the No. 2 seed while Abbotsford’s Yale Lions are sitting at No. 3.

Burnaby’s St. Thomas More Knights come out as Lower Mainland champions and own the No. 4 seed while Riverside of PoCo, Burnaby South, Penticton and Prince George’s Duchess Park round out the rest of the top eight seeds who will receive open-round byes and face play-in winners in March 1 Sweet 16 action.

Times are not yet finalized for the final two days of the championships.

North Vancouver’s St. Thomas Aquinas Fighting Saints are the defending champions but are not represented in this year’s field of 24 teams.

The junior girls event will run concurrently with the B.C. senior girls AA and AA championships.

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