LANGLEY TOWNSHIP — Welcome to Day 1 of the 2026 B.C. senior girls QUAD-A basketball championship, coming to you from the Langley Events Centre.
Please check back here regularly as our team of writers provide first-hand game coverage from the eight sudden-elimination games being contested at this tier.
Thanks for your loyalty!
Howard Tsumura
DAY 1
QUAD A
ROUND OF 16
RIVERSIDE 104 LORD TWEEDSMUIR 48
By GARY KINGSTON (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – This one was always going to be one-sided, a blowout between a Quad A No. 2 seed at the senior girls provincials and a #15 seed, which had won only four games all season.
But as the Riverside Rapids easily dispatched the Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers 104-48, there was still a sense of head-nodding appreciation to be able to watch the kind of complementary magic with which the Port Coquitlam school plays hoops.
With a great mix of front-court size and dazzling backcourt wizardry, the Rapids play with an intuitive chemistry that belies the fact the starting five includes a Grade 9 and a Grade 10.
While the Panthers did play surprisingly robust basketball early, staying within six points well into the first quarter, Riverside used a full-court press to force several turnovers and pull out to a 59-28 lead at halftime.
A 19-0 run to start the third quarter clearly showcased the depth of the Rapids’ skill.
Kaitlin Vergara, the five-foot-three Grade 12 dynamo, opened the run with a three-pointer, then uber-talented Grade 9 forward Ari Brown stole the ball under the offensive basket and made a put-back. Brown scored again on a fastbreak layup off a feed from Vergara and added another layup off a seeing-eye, back-handed feed from Vergara.
“A lot of my teammates have learned to be ready for my passes,” said a beaming Vergara. “At the start of the season, they weren’t always expecting me to pass it when I did. They were caught off guard. Now that we’ve built that chemistry, built that relationship, they know to be ready.”
Assists are not recorded on the opening day of the tournament, but Vergara had a bushel full to go along with 17 points. Brown, the six-footer, was terrific working inside, with her first three baskets coming off offensive rebound put backs. She had 25 points, while guard Francesca Salonga added 15 and Henna Virk 14.
Riverside head coach Paul Langford said the uneven start by his squad was likely a result of nerves.
“I think we were maybe a little bit too hyped, too excited to play,” he said. “But we started the second half how I wanted us to play. When we share the ball we’re really good and if we play defence we’re pretty good.”
Langford had high praise for Vergara, vocal leader who is set to join former teammates Annabelle Neufeld and Mikella Campanile next year at Vancouver Island University.
“When she moves the ball she can be extremely effective. She was very effective today. When her teammates are running the floor, they know she’s going to get them the ball. And she can shoot it.”
On that backhanded pass to Brown, Langford, a longtime high school coach, said “she’s very creative, one of the most creative players I’ve had.”
Although Tweedsmuir won only four games all season, two of those were crossover playoff games, including a six-point defeat of a team that beat the Panthers by 53 earlier in the season.
Sharp-shooting Grade 11 guard Zara Mann led the Panthers with 18 points, 12 of them from behind the arc.
NO. 7 G.W. GRAHAM 60 NO. 10 KELOWNA OWLS 54
By GARY KINGSTON (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – Given the adversity the G.W. Graham Grizzlies senior girls basketball team has faced this season – injuries, illness, car accidents and severe flooding in the Chilliwack area – falling behind by 10 points in the third quarter of their B.C. championships opener wasn’t going to be a big issue.
Sure enough, with a tenacious defence keying a turnaround, the Quad A No. 7-ranked Grizzlies went on a 18-0 run to put themselves in an advantageous position against the upset-minded Kelowna Owls.
The No-10 ranked Okanagan squad did rally in the fourth quarter to retake a two-point lead, but a clutch three-pointer from Grade 11 guard Janessa Wiebe with 34.1 seconds remaining clinched the 60-54 win.
“I was wide open . . . I had to try it,” said Wiebe, who had struggled with her shot earlier in the game before hitting her sole trey. “We were kind of nervous (earlier) with our whole school being here (in the stands). I had to do it.”
When Kelowna fouled with a few seconds remaining, Grizzlies’ head coach Ashley Hayes inserted injured Grade 12 forward Macie Svehia, one of the team’s leading scorers this season, to shoot the final two free throws.
“That was good for her, she could barely walk,” said Hayes.
It was a low-scoring, plenty-of-fouls game early, just 11-7 for G.W. Graham after one quarter, when the two teams combined to make just three baskets combined.
The offences found their footing after that point, but after Kelowna took a 39-29 lead in the third, the Grizzlies went on that big run and held the Owls scoreless for five minutes by switching to a zone defence.
“We felt like our help side defence wasn’t great,” said Hayes. “We were a little bit slow and they (the Owls) were in our heads a little bit. We felt like if we were in zone, at least we’d have that confidence that our team would find itself. We talked about making one stop at a time.”
The Grizzlies did a terrific job of dropping down and double-and-triple teaming the Owls leading scorer, six-foot Grade 12 forward Jasmin Guarasci in the post, holding her to just nine points.
“It’s funny, we talked about her nearly every time out,” said Hayes. “We knew what she was going to do. We played them in our home tournament in January. We discussed her tendencies, what she liked to do to bait girls in. Sometimes (our team) listened, sometimes they didn’t, but we really paid attention to her and that helped to make sure she didn’t go off.”
Grade 11 guard Katie Schmitke led the Grizzlies with 26 points.
G.W. Graham made it to the final game last season as a No. 7 seed, so they’re hoping for a repeat performance this year.
“This is a huge win,” she said of staving off the Owls. “Resilience is one of our key words of the year and I think they were definitely resilient today.”
NO. 3 MEI EAGLES 91 NO. 14 HANDSWORTH ROYALS 57
By GARY KINGSTON (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – New coach. New division. Same old story.
The MEI Eagles remain a dominant force in B.C. senior girls basketball.
The Abbotsford school, the reigning Triple A champions, moved up to Quad A this season due to the sustained excellence formula that takes into Top 5 finishes over a five-year period. And even though longtime bench boss Rick Thiessen stepped away in the off-season, the Eagles arrived at the Langley Events Centre as the No. 3 seed.
With new coach Sarah Neufeld calling the shots, they opened the tournament with a relatively easy 91-53 win Wednesday over the No. 14 seed Handsworth Royals.
“I’ve been given a great opportunity,” said Neufeld, an American who finished her college career at Trinity Western and then coached in Alberta for a decade afterwards.
“I’ve inherited a very talented group, a generational talent group, which is kind of rare,” said Neufeld.
“I’m very thankful for the work Rick Thiessen and our staff at MEI has done over the last few years fostering this group. It’s been a joy to coach them.”
The squad includes a pair of six-foot-two Grade 12 forwards Ella Tatlock and Julianna Reimer, who combine skill with disruptive length and a physicality that allows them to dominate inside. But it’s also a deep MEI team that includes a group of talented Grade 11s, including forwards Brooklyn Elford (13 second half points) and Madie Corneau, who chipped in eight.
Tatlock had a team-high 13 points and Reimer 12 while sitting almost the entire second half.
In a tournament that could mean four games in four days if the Eagles make Saturday night’s final, getting her big stars some early rest was crucial for Neufeld.
“I think they got one or two short shifts (in the second half) and that was kind of the goal,” said Neufeld, who had 11 different players record points.
Putting up 91 and spreading the points around was a positive, but Neufeld was disappointed at times with the commitment to defence.
“Defensively, we’ve got some things to correct.”
Leila Aaker led Handsworth with 15 points.
NO. 11 CHARLES BEST 80 NO. 6 SEAQUAM 62
By GARY KINGSTON (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – Jim Day had a feeling that his Charles Best Blue Devils might be poised to upset the seeding chart on the opening day of the Quad A senior girls B.C. basketball championships.
Just 17-14 on the season, his Coquitlam-based squad was the No. 11 seed and was going up against the No. 6 seed Seaquam Seahawks, the two-time reigning champions on Wednesday at the Langley Events Centre.
But after going on a 15-0 run in the first quarter to build a 19-6 lead, the Blue Devils kept rolling en route to a decisive 80-62 win.
“Our kids played unreal, that’s the best game they’ve played all year,” said Day. “I thought we were building towards that in the last few weeks and then we had a great week of practice and the kids just executed beautifully today.”
Grade 11 guard Bianka Mazan, scored 28 points while showcasing a brilliant all-round game. An energy player whose motor never stops running, she scored on offensive rebound put backs, by driving the baseline, with double pump push shots and on dead-eye three-pointers.
“She played great today,” said Day. “She’s been our leading scorer all year and she showed that today. But today’s a day where it’s hard to single people out because the collective group was just so good. Everyone did their jobs, executed the game plan the way we wanted to.”
Grade 10 forward Ashreya Sanghera-Gulamhussein, who made the odd questionable decision, still contributed 16 crucial points, while Grade 11 guard Elizabeth Fast added 18.
Seaquam, which lost standout forward Camryn Tait early in the season to a foot injury, stayed within hailing distance for a while in the second half as guards Callie Brost and Syra Toor combined for 11 three-pointers.
But Charles Best would answer each one of those treys with another Mazan foray along the baseline, a crazy hook shot from Sanghera-Gulamhussein or a banked shot off glass by Madison Day, the coach’s daughter.
“It was a real team effort,” said Mazan, who agreed with Coach Day that it was the biggest win of the year. “We all worked together and it was a lot of fun. We said at the start of the year that we were not just going to get here, but we were going to win.”
Knocking off the two-time reigning champs was a good way to start.
“I have so much respect for (Seaquam head coach Lucky Toor) and that program, for what they’ve done the last few years,” said Day. “Winning two titles and then they get the bad break with the injury to Camryn this year. That’s a hell of a program and just a great win for our kids.”
Toor admitted the loss of Tait was tough, but said his team was just too inconsistent this year.
“And, it shouldn’t happen, but I felt they wanted it more than us today.
“Coach Day is a phenomenal coach. That’s a very well-coached team and he certainly had his team prepared. Kudos to them.”
Charles Best will face the No. 3 seed MEI Eagles in a quarterfinal today. The two teams have not faced each other this season.
NO. 5 SEMIAHMOO 89 NO. 12 W.J. MOUAT 51
By DAN KINVIG (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY TOWNSHIP — Wednesday afternoon’s opening-round Quad-A provincial clash between the Semiahmoo Thunderbirds and W.J. Mouat Hawks was a fascinating snapshot of two programs at very different phases of their respective developmental cycles.
On one hand, the South Surrey-based Thunderbirds are fully formed, Grade 11 and 12-laden, ready to meet the moment.
The Hawks of Abbotsford, by way of contrast, are predominantly driven by underclass athletes, inexperienced at the senior level yet dripping with potential, with their best days yet to come.
Given those demographic profiles, the end result – a dominant 89-51 T-Bird triumph at the Langley Events Centre – made sense. It’s fair to suggest the Thunderbirds are who the Hawks hope to be one day, but they’re not there yet.
“They were aggressive, and their full-court press threw us off,” noted Google Sidhu, the former UFV Cascades standout who is now head-coaching her alma mater Mouat Hawks.
“And Jaida Claypool, she’s a star. She’s a very good player.”
Indeed, Grade 11 guard Claypool lit the fuse for the Thunderbirds on Wednesday, scoring 19 of her game-high 33 points in the first half as Semiahmoo led wire-to-wire.
The Thunderbirds broke the game open midway through the first quarter, reeling off a 20-2 run highlighted by a pair of Mya Thompson three-pointers to surge ahead 25-6. They controlled the game from there.
The opening-round win is a natural progression for a Semi program which won Grade 8 provincials in 2023 with its core group of Grade 11’s; won junior provincials in 2024 with its current Grade 11’s and 12’s; and suffered a tough opening-round loss at senior B.C.’s last year before reeling off three straight confidence-building wins to finish ninth overall.
“The experience we had last year was really key for us,” T-Birds head coach Simrit Bindra explained. “Last year we played Oak Bay in the first round, and they were up 23-9 in the first quarter. Learning from that, we knew we needed be really ready from the start, and knew we had to control the tempo. I’m proud of the girls for coming out the way that they did today.”
Nine Thunderbirds hit the scoresheet on Wednesday, with senior guard Thompson (17 points, five three-pointers) joining Claypool in double digits. Priya Sangha (eight points), Elia Sparling and Savanna Wong (seven points apiece) also chipped in offensively for the winners.
“The way that these girls get along is special,” Bindra said. “They hang out at basketball and after school, and they hang out together at school. We’re really lucky, because a lot of teams don’t get that. It’s a big deal.”
Mouat, meanwhile, showed flashes of its youthful potential, with as many as four Grade 9 players – guards Nyah Sandhu, Nevaya Neufeld and Nayeli Djulus, and forward Seerat Mann – on the court at a time. The quartet was part of a Hawks Grade 9 team that finished second at Grade 9 provincials last week.
Mann poured in 21 points, while Djulus added 12 points of her own.
“It’s everything to them,” Mouat coach Sidhu said, reflecting on what her young players learned in their provincial debut. “This gets them ready for what’s next. They’re playing against women – they’re not playing Grade 9 kids anymore. . . . You’ve got to move faster, react faster. This will help them in the long run, for sure.”
NO. 4 JOHNSTON HEIGHTS 76 NO. 13 DOVER BAY 56
By DAN KINVIG (Special for Varsity Letters)
If his team’s B.C. Quad-A tournament opener is any indication, Johnston Heights Eagles head coach Harjit Deol is one cool customer.
Turns out, his team’s collective panic threshold is pretty high, too. And that’s by design.
In the early going on Wednesday at the Langley Events Centre, it looked like a historic moment in school history might prove overwhelming for the Eagles. Making their first-ever senior girls provincial championship appearance, they found themselves trailing the 13-seeded Dover Bay Dolphins by nine points early in the second quarter.
A massive upset appeared to be brewing, yet Coach Deol never signaled for a timeout. And in the end, his squad got things sorted, rallying for a decisive 76-56 victory.
“Playing our first provincial game, we were a little bit anxious,” Deol acknowledged. “We knew they would settle in, though.
“We weren’t sweating – we knew our girls would step up. It was just a matter of letting them figure it out, right? Sometimes over-coaching doesn’t really help.
“At a certain point, if they didn’t figure it out, then we would have called timeout. But I didn’t think we needed that.”
Dover Bay, early on, did a great job of limiting Puneet Deol, Johnston Heights’s outstanding 6’1” Grade 10 lead guard, and that defensive effort ignited their lightning-quick transition game. A layup from Jessica Slater and a triple from Beth Linder staked the Dolphins to a 25-16 lead early in the second, and the upset watch was officially on.
But not for long.
The Eagles responded with a 14-2 surge, bookended by treys from Fair Hanjra and Nevaeh Kong, and they took a 34-32 lead into halftime.
After the break, Johnston Heights opened on a 7-0 run, and they would go on to stretch the lead as high as 25 points en route to victory.
Coach Deol said that tightening things up defensively – attacking screen-and-rolls more aggressively while providing more help in the paint – was crucial for his squad.
“We allowed 25 points (in the early going), and that’s not our team,” he explained. “We like to keep teams under 60 points – we start with a defence-first mindset.
“We just settled in. I wanted them to figure it out, because that’s the long-term goal. These girls have to realize, when you’re down eight or nine points, it’s not a big deal. It’s early in the game. Stick with the process, and make things happen.”
That they did.
Puneet Deol finished with 24 points, Hanjra added 19 points, and Nyemuch Jok and Anahat Kaur contributed 10 points apiece for the Eagles, who hit 10 three-pointers as a group.
For the Dolphins, Grade 11 guard Slater’s 27 points were a game-high, while Sophie Stranberg and Linder notched 11 points each.
“Our fast break was working great,” Dover head coach Shayne Pfeifer said, reflecting on his team’s hot start. “We pride ourselves on playing fast, and we’ve got some players who can run for days. But our perimeter defence broke down, and they closed that gap very quickly. That’s all it takes when you’ve got a team that’s hot from behind the arc.
“Things looked pretty good for a while there, but we know they’re a battle-tested team and they weren’t going to go away quietly. We were prepared for the run, but obviously not prepared enough.
“We don’t have any players graduating, though – we are here with aspirations of bigger things next year. Everything we’re doing here is testing ourselves and learning what we need to do to prepare for a year from now.”
NO. 8 OKANAGAN MISSION 53 NO. 9 OAK BAY 51
By DAN KINVIG (Special for Varsity Letters)
For the better part of 30 minutes of game time, coaxing the ball through the rim was like trying to draw blood from a stone for Maya-Lynn Ramsay and the Okanagan Mission Huskies.
Fortunately for Ramsay and her Kelowna compatriots, she found her shooting stroke in the nick of time, powering her squad to a thrilling 53-51 come-from-behind triumph over Victoria’s Oak Bay Breakers in opening-round Quad-A action at the Langley Events Centre on Wednesday.
Through three quarters, Ramsay’s box score contained just a single point under the scoring column, courtesy a 1-for-2 trip to the free throw line in the second quarter.
The final frame was a different story, though – the Grade 11 sharpshooter caught fire, counting a trio of triples among her 12 points in the quarter to help her team claw all the way back after trailing by as many as a dozen.
Afterward, Ramsay noted she was battling butterflies early, but her heart rate stabilized as the game wore on.
“I was definitely a bit more stressed in the first half,” she acknowledged with a wry grin. “Just the start of provincials.
“In the second half, I just took a deep breath and tried to focus on other aspects of the game, not necessarily scoring.
“And then my shot started falling.”
Scoring points was a struggle for both teams early on. OKM held a 16-14 lead at the end of the first quarter, but mustered just five points in the second. Oak Bay, meanwhile, stitched together a scoring surge late in the second to grab a 28-21 lead at the break.
It looked for a long while like it was going to be Oak Bay’s night, as Peggy King and Adelle Bergmann drained back-to-back triples to stake their squad to a 39-27 lead late in the frame. In a game where points had been at such a premium, the Huskies were staring at a daunting deficit.
Then Ramsay found her range.
One trey. Then another. Then another.
That trio of deep shots created such panic – and rightfully so – amongst the Breakers’ defenders, the next time Ramsay lined up a three-pointer, she was fouled. Her three subsequent free throws were all nylon, no rim, and OKM had its first lead since early in the second quarter, up 50-48 with 2:08 left in regulation.
Huskies Grade 9 guard Mile David followed with a layup to make it 52-48, but Ashlyn Mackie knocked down a super-clutch triple to draw Oak Bay back to within a point.
A free throw from Shae Sandhu put the Huskies up 53-51, and in the dying seconds, Bergmann had a chance to send it to OT but her shot at the rim rolled out.
“It was definitely a struggle, the first three quarters,” Huskies head coach Meghan Faust observed. “Shout-out to Oak Bay – their defence put good pressure on our girls. But in the fourth quarter our shots started to fall, and I think that our defence is what saved the day for us.
“Oak Bay was moving the ball really well, so we switched to man (from zone defence) and we were able to lock it down.
“The girls, I just kept telling them to keep their composure and play the game that we know. In those tight games, it’s a marathon, it’s not a sprint.”
Ramsay’s 13 points tied Hana Friesen for team-best, and David added 10 points for the winners.
“She (Ramsay) is our shooter, and for her shot to be off is really weird,” Faust said. “I can count on one hand the number of games where her shot hasn’t fallen. So I knew she was going to start making shots, and once she hit that first one, you could see her relax and kind of say, ‘OK, here we go.’”
For Oak Bay, Bergmann was heroic in defeat with a game-high 14 points, and Zoe Lubben (12 points) and Mackie (11) also scored in double digits.
NO. 1 ARGYLE 88 NO. 16 NORTH PEACE 19
By DAN KINVIG (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY TOWNSHIP — The Argyle Pipers have flexed their incredible depth all season long in unusual fashion, and their opening game at Quad-A provincials on Wednesday evening only built on that theme.
Just how deep is this North Vancouver program? Well, consider that in tournament play throughout the year, the Pipers would enter not one but two teams – either in the same tourney draw, or in separate tourneys on a given weekend.
“It was one of those things where we had a group of 10 or 12 Grade 12 players, and 10 or 12 Grade 11’s,” explained Argyle assistant coach Mike Kidd. “We don’t want to cut anyone in their senior year, because they’ve put in all this work and they’re committed. And then all these Grade 11’s, they’re going to play next year and they’re very good. So it made no sense to cut them, either. We had the coaches to do run two teams, and the girls were committed.
“It was a really good decision. It made all the girls better, they all got a lot of playing time, and they all had a lot of fun.”
Argyle’s depth is so high-calibre, their “second” group notched a win earlier this season over the Johnston Heights Eagles – the No. 4 seed in the draw this week.
The No. 1-ranked Pipers have 20 players listed on their roster for Quad-A provincials, and they dressed the maximum 15 on Wednesday in their tourney opener vs. No. 16 North Peace Grizzlies. Twelve of those players hit the scoresheet as Argyle rolled to an 88-19 triumph over their opponents from Fort St. John.
Double-digit scorers for the Pipers included Mariia Maydan (14 points), Sophie Ezart (11) and Taylor Johncox (10).
Annie Baillie was selected as Argyle’s player of the game, drawing an explosive cheer from her teammates when it was announced. Kidd provided the backstory post-game.
“Annie tore her ACL (before her Grade 11 year), and she had surgery a couple months ago,” he explained. “She hasn’t played at all this year, and she’s in Grade 12 and she’s the nicest person ever. She’s still committed – she still comes to all of our games. She’s missed basically two years of basketball, and we really wanted to try to get her in this game.
“The girls did a good job getting her an open shot (a three-pointer in the second quarter), and she nailed it. We kept her in, and she grabbed some rebounds, had some assists. It was really cool to see her get into the game, and then for everyone to be so happy for her.”
The Pipers move on to face the No. 8 Okanagan Mission Huskies in the quarter-finals at 5:15 p.m. Thursday at the Langley Events Centre’s South Court.
As for the Grizzlies, simply being at provincials is something to be savored.
Last season, North Peace qualified for the B.C.’s with a win over Prince George, the only other 4A school in their zone. But on short notice, they were unable to raise the $15,000 it would take to cover travel and accommodations to Langley, and they were therefore unable to attend.
This year, the Grizzlies were able to make the journey thanks to local business sponsorships, an alumni fundraiser, and other revenue-generating efforts.
“Even last night at the banquet, you see our players looking around starry-eyed, kind of like ‘Wow, we’re here,’” related North Peace head coach Mark Knoppers. “It’s a big stage, and it’s a great experience for them to come here and work together to get better.
“To see the level of play here just gives a little bit of an eye-opener of what we need to work on. It’s going to be a huge growing experience, and we’d like to be back next year and be more competitive, more polished, more understanding game situations.”
Sophie Adams paced the Grizzlies with seven points, and Charlotte Wilson added six points.
The North Peace squad has to travel far and wide to find competition – the closest school their size is in Grande Prairie, Alta., about 250 km away.
If you’re curious, the journey from North Peace Secondary to the Langley Events Centre comprises 1,184 km, per Google Maps.
“Argyle is a tough match-up,” Knoppers said, reflecting on the challenge of playing the province’s top-ranked team. “Holy moly, they just don’t miss.
“That competition is what we miss up north. We just don’t have the experience, and you can just see their experience. They pass the ball so well, and they make great decisions. It’s wonderful basketball to watch, and I’m looking forward to watching them throughout the tournament.
“I was so proud of how we played today – there was no quit. Three seconds left in the game, we had a girl diving for a loose ball. Our effort’s there, now it’s just the knowledge of how to play the game.”
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