LANGLEY — We’ve gone final at Day 1 of the 2025 B.C. senior girls Triple-A basketball championships.
Here are your game reports for all eight games played Wednesday.
BASKETBALL
B.C. SENIOR GIRLS CHAMPIONSHIPS
DAY 1
TRIPLE A
TOP HALF DRAW
QUADRANT A
NO. 1 MEI 75 vs. NO. 16 VALLEYVIEW 29
BY GARY KINGSTON (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY — Athleticism, balance, experience and depth. It’s no wonder longtime MEI Eagles head coach Rick Thiessen calls his current senior girls squad “unique” and potentially the best team he’s ever coached.
The Triple A squad from Abbotsford began its run at this year’s provincial championships and a possible first B.C. title since 1999 with an easy 75-29 win on Wednesday at the Langley Event Centre.
Grade 11 forward led the scoring with 19 points and was complemented by forward Ella Tatlock (18 points) and Grade 12 guard Olivia Sidhu (13 points).
The Eagles led 58-22 after three quarters then played lockdown defence in the fourth, allowing just two baskets.
Taylor Hanlon led the outclassed Vikes with six points.
NO. 9 R.A. MCMATH 59 NO. 8 LITTLE FLOWER 35
BY GARY KINGSTON (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY —In any sport where failure is a constant – think conversion percentage on three-pointers in basketball or hitting a curveball in baseball – the ability to put it in the past and continue on with some confidence that things will turn in your favour is paramount.
So it was when R. A. McMath forward Rebecca Nashlund missed on two relatively easy layups early in the third quarter of a game the Wildcats led just 25-23 over Little Flower Academy in the opening round of the BC senior girls Triple A championships.
She didn’t drop her head. Didn’t beat herself up mentally. She quickly responded with successful back-to-back drives to the basket to key a 24-2 run through the quarter en route to an eventual 59-35 win Wednesday over the Angels from Vancouver.
“It’s really important,” Nashlund said of parking the frustrating misses on fast-break opportunities. “If you get upset you’re going to keep missing more. You’ve got to just keep shooting the ball.”
“We tell the girls we have faith in their ability to decide when to shoot the ball and when they’re open,” said head coach Jamie Kippan. “And if they miss it, just forget about it and focus on the next possession.
“There’s a million possessions in a game and one possession doesn’t define you as a player. Just regroup and focus on the next one.”
Nashlund finished with 11 points and at least a couple of terrific assists to set up Wildcats’ leading scorer Mirella Fernandes Boshell. The 6-foot-3 Grade 12 centre had 15 points and was a huge presence on the boards and in forcing the Angels into off-balance shots inside.
The only two points the Wildcats allowed in the third quarter were off free throws. Little Flower had a couple of three-point attempts go agonizingly in and out converted just two of eight from the line.
“It was real good),” Kippan said of his Richmond squad’s third quarter defence “It’s pretty unusual (to hold a team without a basket over 10 minutes). “We locked it down on defence. We made a few little adjustments and the girls decided to really focus in and it worked out really well for us.
“We also made much better offensive decisions in the third quarter, didn’t turn the ball over as much. That really was the difference in the game.”
The Wildcats stretched the lead to 30 early in the fourth quarter before Little Flower went on a brief 10-run. But that spurt was halted by Boshell’s terrific pick-and-roll to the basket for a 59-35 McMath lead with 3:49 to play.
The Wildcats will play No. 1 seed MEI on Thursday in the quarter finals, a squad they will face for the first time this season. The Eagles beat Valleyview of Kamloops 75-29 in their opener.
“It’s a rematch from a couple of years ago in the (Triple A) final,” said Kippan. “It’ll be a tough game for us, but our goal was to get on the winning half of the draw, so we’re pretty happy with that. Our goal is to give them as big a battle as we can.”
Susu Zhang and Katie Kennedy each hit a trio of three-pointers for the Wildcats en route to 13 points. Angel Dee had nine points to lead the Angels.
QUADRANT B
NO. 4 VERNON 49 NO. 13 ALBERNI DISTRICT 34
BY GARY KINGSTON (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – From the big things come in small packages department, we give you the Vernon Panthers senior girls basketball team.
The height-challenged Panthers tallest player is 5-foot-10 forward Adie Janke. The rest of the nine-person roster features a bunch of 5-foot-4 and 5-foot-7 buzzsaws who run around the court like they’re powered by the Energizer Bunny.
Go, go, go. Swarm the ball, have active hands on defence and drive to the basket with fearless abandon.
“We full-court press the entire game,” said Vernon head coach Dave Tetrault, who came out of a two-year retirement to guide this season’s squad. “It doesn’t matter whether we’re playing seven, eight or nine (players), that’s what we do.”
Seeded No. 4 in the Triple A tier, the puny Panthers opened their 2025 championships on Wednesday with a 49-34 win over No. 13 Alberni District.
“We just know we’re going to have to scrap,” said Tetrault of a group of “exceptional” players who display maturity beyond their years. “It’s like, we have to have a fist-fight out there because we’re not very big. It has to be physical for us. And (the lack of height) is great for us in other ways because we can move, which is super awesome for us.”
They faced a similarly scrappy team in the Alberni District Storm, taking a 25-16 lead at halftime while struggling from the field.
“We didn’t shoot very well today,” lamented Tetrault. “But that’s OK, it’s a new day tomorrow. We just wanted to survive the day. It’s always about surviving the day.
“Sometimes you have to just keep working.”
To survive the quarterfinal, they’ll likely have to beat the No. 5 seed College Heights Cougars, who faced the No. 12 Pitt Meadows Marauders later on Wednesday.
College Heights beat Vernon by three points in their only meeting this season.
“It should be a barn-burner of a game,” said Tetrault. “We’ll get after it.”
Janke led the Panthers with 20 points, while Grade 12 forward Paige Leahy, generously listed at 5-foot-9, chipped in with nine.
“We’re really excited,” said Leahy of the Panthers’ outlook for the tournament. “We feel like we’re on an up-slope right now, just really hyped.”
Leahy said the team is aware of its lack of height and overcomes that with a work ethic and a belief that can go a long way.
“We just fight hard and we know we have to act big, even though we aren’t,” she said. “This wasn’t one of our best (games), but we worked really hard on defence and that’s what matters.”
Hayleigh Watts led the Storm with 11 points.
NO. 5 COLLEGE HEIGHTS 57 NO. 12 PITT MEADOWS 45
BY GARY KINGSTON (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY — Sometimes you’ve just got to get out of Prince George.
The central B.C. city’s College Heights Cougars, losers of three straight games over the last two weeks to crosstown rivals Duchess Park, rode the all-round brilliance of guards Kayleigh Kennedy and Loren Caceres to a 57-45 victory Wednesday over the Pitt Meadows Marauders in a Triple A opener at the provincial senior girls basketball championships.
The No. 5 seed Cougars actually won three of their first five games against the Condors this season. But they then got beat in the city final and twice in the Zone championship by Duchess Park, which leapfrogged College Heights into the No. 3 seed for the provincials.
“Yeah we got kind of tired of that,” College Heights head coach Wade Loukes said of the familiar matchup. “Me and Reid (Roberts, the Duchess Park head coach) were talking about that. It’s just a great battle with them.
“But it’s great to get both teams prepared for provincials.”
The Cougars led the Marauders 15-4 after one quarter but it was tight the rest of the way, including 41-34 at the three quarter mark. But College Heights used a 12-5 run to open the fourth to pull away.
“It was a tough battle, but we came prepared to fight,” said Kennedy. “For some of us, it’s our fourth year in (at provincials), and it’s exciting.”
The 5-foot-6 Caceres and 5-foot-9 Kennedy, both Grade 12s were terrific in breaking the Marauders full-court pressure with exceptional quickness and adroit ball-handling and led the offence with 21 and 16 points, respectively.
“We did a thing back home where we had our boys team prep us,” said Loukes. “That whole quickness and decision-making they developed really helped. We don’t see much pressure all season, so to see that (from Pitt Meadows), our girls have to have a lot of confidence with the ball.
“Sure we turned it over a couple of times, but it’s not a lack of aggression. Lauren just makes great decisions.
Summer Toor is another Grade 12 Cougars’ guard in her fourth consecutive provincials.
“Just their experience is a fantastic asset,” said Loukes.
The sharp-shooting Toor knocked down two early three-pointers, finishing with three treys en route to 11 points.
Dynamic Grade 11 guard Jocelyn Boyes led Pitt Meadows with 27 points, several coming off acrobatic, off-balance scoops while driving into the lane.
BOTTOM HALF DRAW
QUADRANT C
NO. 2 SA-HALI 63 NO. 15 STELLYS 36
BY DAN KINVIG (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY — For stretches of Wednesday’s nightcap at the B.C. 3A tournament, it felt like the Sa-Hali Sabres were staring into a mirror as they faced the Stelly’s Stingers.
Aside from the alliterative ‘S’-centric nicknames, both teams are tall, talented, deep, well-coached, and determined to snuff your high-scoring hopes and dreams via suffocating zone defences.
The main difference, one could argue, between the two squads was the Sabres’ readiness and willingness to shoot the three-pointer. They drained six treys on the night to the Stingers’ one, and while six isn’t a terribly high number in an era of basketball history defined by the likes of Steph Curry and Caitlin Clark draining a preposterous number of shots from beyond the arc, the simple threat of the three combined with their selfless ball movement pried open cracks in Stelly’s defence, allowing the Sabres to pull away as the game wore on.
In the end, the Kamloops squad claimed a 63-36 decision (even the final score aligns with our mirror-image thesis!), befitting their status as the No. 2 seed in the draw.
“I think our pace of play, we kind of dialed it back a little bit tonight,” Sabres head coach Jody Vosper analyzed afterward. “It could be just being off for 10 days or so, and getting your legs on the LEC court can take a little while. But overall, I was happy with how we played.
“I thought we shared the ball really well – we found some open players. When you’re playing teams that play aggressive D, that’s really important. I’m sure we’ll be facing that tomorrow as well.”
Sa-Hali got off to a fast start, and when Grade 11 guard Iyin Aina banked in a three-pointer late in the first quarter to stake her squad to a 20-6 lead, you had the sense it was going to be the Sabres’ night.
Yet the Stingers went down swinging – they were tough defensively throughout, particularly in the second quarter as they limited Sa-Hali to 10 points in the frame.
The Sabres were inevitable, led by UBC Okanagan Heat commit Nevena Nogic. The 5’10” senior forward dissected Stelly’s zone from the high post en route to a game-high 20 points.
Aina (12 points), Courtney Grant (11) and Isabel Phillips (10) also scored in double digits for the winners.
Senior guard Zoe McPherson paced the Stingers with 14 points, and Sophie Postlethwaite (eight points) and Sei Takazawa (six points) also chipped in offensively.
NO. 7 ROBERT BATEMAN 78 NO. 10 CROFTON HOUSE 51
BY DAN KINVIG (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY — There’s a reason that the NCAA’s March Madness telecast plays a song called “One Shining Moment” over the traditional highlight package at the end of the tournament.
Over the course of a single-elimination event, only one team can emerge with the championship banner. But there are countless junctures along the journey where athletes from multiple squads carve out their own smaller slices of athletic immortality – shining moments, so to speak.
On Wednesday evening, Eshnaa Gill of the Robert Bateman Timberwolves authored one of those moments, turning in the type of shooting performance she’s spent a lifetime dreaming of.
The 5’5” senior point guard was absolutely unconscious in her team’s opener at the B.C. 3A senior girls basketball championship, swishing six three-pointers on her way to a team-high, game-high, and thus far co-tournament-high 31 points.
The end result? A 78-51 triumph for her Abbotsford-based Timberwolves over the Crofton House Falcons of Vancouver.
How much did it mean? We’ll let Gill explain.
“I’ve been playing senior since Grade 9, and I’ve made provincials all four years,” she said. “But each of the three years before this, we’ve lost the first game at provincials. I felt like I needed to contribute a lot to this game.”
Gill had a quiet first quarter, knocking down her first three-pointer of the game, and the Falcons were still within single digits.
In the second, Gill went nuclear, detonating for 14 points including a trio of triples – the last of which gave the T-Wolves a 20-point edge (41-21).
With her outside shot well-established, Gill spent the second half probing the Falcons’ defence, showcasing a versatile arsenal of pull-up jump shots, running floaters, and baseline layups, and the final result was never in doubt.
Post-game, she explained that she’s a big believer in pregame visualization.
“I always visualize the ball ball going through the net,” she said, “and before the game, I always get a bit of stress, so I try to take deep breaths to calm down and lower my heart rate to really get locked in.”
To see it all come together on the big provincial stage?
“Electric,” she said.
“It feels like our hard work has finally paid off — all those long hours in the gym, all the mental preparation, all the visualization before the game. Everything was worth it in the end.”
Thalia Olay, with 16 points, joined Gill as double-digit scorers, and Gia Padwal and Sahejpreet Hundal notched nine points apiece for the winners.
Crofton House’s balanced attack saw 10 players register points, with Ella Lukomskyj (17 points) and Sarah Law (11 points) leading the way.
Bateman’s post-game cheer was “Family”, and Gill said it’s a tight-knit group.
“Thalia Olay, No. 6, I’ve been playing with her since I was in Grade 5,” she said. “And then Gia Padwal, No. 3, I’ve been playing with her for a long time as well. And No. 12, Amy Kim, she’s one of my best friends and we do everything together. And with everyone else, there’s always a great attitude coming to practice together. Everyone’s excited to be there, and be with each other.”
No matter how long their run on the winner’s side of the draw lasts, Wednesday’s shining moment will continue to glitter for Gill and the T-Wolves.
QUADRANT D
NO. 3 DUCHESS PARK 60 NO. 14 SENTINEL 46
BY DAN KINVIG (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY — One of the charming elements of a B.C. basketball championship is that it brings together teams from all corners of this vast province, creating seldom-seen match-ups.
And in the aftermath of his team’s opening-round triumph over the Sentinel Spartans of West Vancouver, Duchess Park Condors head coach Reid Roberts acknowledged that his team’s game plan had been a work in progress throughout.
Try as he might, Roberts had been unable to track down any game tape on the Spartans. As such, he was taking a peek at Sentinel’s team photo to get a sense of players’ heights, and watching their pregame warm-up with uncommon interest to get a feel for what his squad was up against.
“We had no video, they weren’t at any of the big tournaments, so it’s like, who are they?” Roberts related with a chuckle. “That’s a coach’s nightmare, when you don’t have a clue what you’re stepping into.
“I was pretty nervous going in. And then when I saw the size of them, I was like, ‘Oh man. We’re in for a battle.’”
Indeed, in the early going, No. 14 Sentinel showed a team-wide knack for getting to the rim at the offensive end, hanging with the No. 3 Condors for much of the first half and building a strong case that they may have been under-seeded in the 3A draw. Midway through the second quarter, the Spartans were within four points (22-18). Senior guard Kerri Nimmons led the upset bid, scoring 11 of her team-high 17 points in the first half.
The North Central zone champs, though, stayed the course, eventually wearing down the Spartans with their depth. All 10 players on the Condors’ roster hit the scoresheet, with Zahra Ngabo setting the pace with a game-high 21 points.
Considering the poise and intelligence Ngabo brings to the floor, you’d never guess she’s only in Grade 10. Yet the Condor offence orbits around her versatile playmaking skills, and she was rightly the focus of Sentinel’s defensive efforts.
“She’s definitely the leader on the floor,” Roberts noted, “and we have a lot of other players who fit in well. If teams focus on her, we’ve got some shooters, and our post players are small but they play pretty big.”
Maggie Malfair (12 points) and Devyn Bjorn (10) also scored in double digits for Prince George-based Duchess Park, while Kionae Roberts and Emily Clarke spearheaded an effective ball-denial defensive strategy against Sentinel’s 6’0” senior standout Karissa Kirkwood.
Kayla Lee joined Nimmons in double digits for the Spartans, while Kirkwood and Cate Eisler chipped in with six points apiece.
“That’s a team that can definitely do some damage,” Roberts said of the Spartans. “I bet they win their next game on the back side of the draw.”
NO. 6 MARK ISFELD vs. NO. 11 SOUTH KAMLOOPS
BY DAN KINVIG (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY — It was a final score more reminiscent of an era where players fired set shots at peach baskets hung on the walls.
But fortunately for the Mark R. Isfeld Ice, the old adage rings true: they don’t ask how, they ask how many. And in a rough-and-tumble opening-round clash on Wednesday afternoon, 35 points was enough for the Ice to slip past the South Kamloops Titans by a four-point margin and punch their ticket to the quarter-finals.
“That was a tough game,” Isfeld head coach Colin Cunningham observed with a relieved grin. “We missed so many shots that we normally rely on . . . it felt like a little bit of pregame nerves or something. And South Kamloops clawed their way back – they’re a good team.
“We’re just glad we hung in there and got the win.”
If the extra adrenaline that comes with playing at provincials threw off both teams’ offensive execution, it enhanced their compete level at the defensive end of the floor as clean looks at the hoop were few and far between.
The Ice, in fact, limited the Titans to single-digit scoring in the first half, yet were unable to truly bury their Okanagan foes, taking a 21-8 lead into halftime.
South Kamloops found their scoring touch at that point, opening the third quarter on a 10-0 run with Isla Dickie doing much of the damage. The Ice responded with triples from Rylan Boccabella and Elana Russell on back-to-back possessions, but those would be the only points they would muster in the frame.
Feron Wallace, South Kam’s 5’10” senior forward, did all she could to will her squad back into it, and her layup gave the Titans their first lead of the night at 28-27 with seven minutes left in regulation.
The Ice, never varying from their aggressive man defence, locked it down from that point, and a crucial bucket from Katie Hartig and a pair of clutch free throws from Russell in the final minutes helped the Courtenay squad close it out.
“I actually thought we got some good looks on offence, we just didn’t shoot a very high percentage,” Cunningham analyzed. “But not many complaints on defence when you hold a team like that to 31 points, and eight at the half. We normally play 1-v-1 defence the entire game, we’re not a fan of zone. Our help side was really good.”
Boccabella (13 points) and Russell (12 points) led the way offensively for the Ice.
Wallace was outstanding in defeat, accounting for more than half of her squad’s total output with a game-high 16 points. Dickie chipped in with eight points, including six in the third quarter.
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