LANGLEY TOWNSHIP — Day 2’s quarterfinals are now complete at the 76th annual B.C. senior girls basketball championships at the Langley Events Centre.
The stage is now set for Friday’s Final Four.
Here are the matchups in Triple-A being staged at the LEC’s South Court.
3:15 p.m. — No. 2 Langley Christian vs. No. 3 St. Michaels University School
5:00 p.m. — No. 1 Vernon vs. No. 5 Duchess Park
Howard Tsumura
NO. 2 LANGLEY CHRISTIAN 79 NO. 7 SA-HALI 48
By Howard Tsumura
Varsity Letters
LANGLEY TOWNSHIP — Gaby Vis still has another year of high school basketball ahead of her, but already Langley Christian’s Grade 11 post-forward speaks like a veteran when it comes to accepting the sacrifice that comes on a deep late-February run here at the B.C. senior girls Triple-A championships.
Just a couple weeks shy of a late-sesdson return to the court from an ankel injury which kept her out about three weeks, the 6-foot-3 Vis is appreciating every second her team is spending within the confines of the Langley Events Centre.
While her Grade 12 teammate, guard Payton Brunoro, poured home a game-high 29 points in a convincing 79-48 win over Kamloops’ gritty Sa-Hali Sabres, Vis was spending her minutes on the floor continuing to root herself back into the physical grind which defines the provincial championship experience.
Her impact, as usual was substantial.
As Sa-Hali attempted to gain some traction offensively in the half court, it was the Lighting’s defensive schematic, with the mobile and agile Vis stationed as the last line of rim-protecting defence that not only stymied the Sabres, but got the stops and takeaways that sent LCS back down the court with its fleet-footed messenger service of guards, led by Brunoro, for easy fast-break buckets.
“We knew they were tough, we knew they were gonna play hard… they’re a great team,” said Langley Chrsitian head coach Danie Garnder. “And so for us, we just really wanted to dial in on our defence and focus on playing together, the five on the court at the time that we are going to work hard and just leave it all out there.”
Sa-Hali found on the other end of the Lightning’s game-opening 24-5 run, and although the began to find some success in the second quarter, Langley Christian’s defence got even stronger, allowing just two shots from the field in the third quarter.
Vis loves the team environment she has returned to.
And her injury, along with others suffered within that span by key starters guard Zoe Bradshaw and 5-foot-11 forward Georgia Van Der Waarde forced the Lightning to cope with finding a new identity.
“I’m really proud of our group during that time,” said Gardner. “The adversity facing injuries and we had multiple injuries and they all stepped up and played their part. And I think that makes you better. And Gaby’s such a great kid and she has such a skill set… it’s a special skill set that not everyone has.”
For Vis, who scored 17 points on the day, some of her earliest and most influential mentors are the seniors she played with when she came arrived on the Lightning’s senior varsity in 2023-24, a season in which her team would win its second B.C. Double-A title in three seasons.
“When I started playing up in grade 9 on the senior team, it was really those girls that year who were the seniors who were really like watching them play Grace (Bradshaw) and Colette (Van der Hoven) and how, like, impactful they were,” she says of a future pair of Trinity Western Spartans. “And I don’t think I realized the stakes of provincials back when I was in Grade 9. But playing with them that year was amazing just learning so much from them.”
Now, Vis is ready to be one of her team’s leaders, continuing with Friday’s 3:15 p.m. Final Four clash on South Court against No. 3 SMUS Blue Jags of Victoria.
Zoe Bradshaw and Van der Waarde (12 points on Thursday) are also back healthy, and the Lightning, in their first season as a Triple-A team, will attempt to find their way back to Saturday’s 5:30 p.m. title game at Arena Bowl.
“What a privilege is to play here at provincials,” coach Gardner said. “That’s what it really comes down to. Not everyone gets to. It’s a privilege, and we need to honour that and do our best.”
Sa-Hali forward Gwen Storry led the Sabres with 11 points while Iyin Aina had nine and Courtney Grant eight.
NO. 3 ST. MICAHELS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL 53 NO. 6 PITT MEADOWS 35
By BRAD ZIEMER (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY TOWNSHIP — The St. Michaels University School Blue Jags are back in familiar territory — the Final Four of the B.C. senior girls Triple-A basketball championships.
The Blue Jags advanced with a convincing 53-35 win Thursday over the Pitt Meadows Marauders at the Langley Events Centre.
St. Michaels led from start to finish and were led by six-foot guard/forward Elspeth Rodger, who scored 12 of her game-high 21 points in the first half.
“I’m over the moon to be in the semis,” said St. Michaels coach Lindsay Brooke. “I thought we were really solid defensively today. It was a bit of a struggle at times on offence, but I was really pleased with our game. I feel like we’re playing our best basketball of the season right now.”
The Blue Jags won the B.C. Double-A title last year and the previous two years were runner-up at the Triple-A provincials. So they are right where they expected to be.
It looked like the Blue Jags might pitch a shutout in the first quarter as they held Pitt Meadows without a point for the first eight minutes. They emerged with a 16-4 lead after one quarter and were up 22-12 at halftime. The Jags opened the second half with a 13-0 run and it was game over.
They did an effective job of containing Pitt Meadows star guard Jocelyn Boyes, who had to fight off double-teams for much of the game to try and create a shot. Attempts by Pitt Meadows to get to the basket were repelled by six-foot-four St. Michaels centre Mikaela Dubé.
“Elspeth was fantastic today,” Brooke said. “The duo of Michaela and Elspeth is tough to cover. Elspeth is a big guard. We are playing her in the post right now, but she has guard skills, beautiful shot techniques.”
Brooke knows things now get tough for the Blue Jags, who will face second-seeded Langley Christian in Friday’s semi-final at 3:15 p.m. Langley Christian has won both meetings with St. Michaels this season.
“We have a great history of excellent games with them,” Brooke said of Langley Christian. “Their starting five is as good as any starting five in the province. They run the ball in transition. Defence will have to be a real focus for us again.”
Dubé chipped in with 11 points as well as numerous rebounds and blocks for the Blue Jags. Boyes had a team-high 10 points for Pitt Meadows.
NO. 5 DUCHESS PARK 62 NO. 4 MARK ISFLED 35
By BRAD ZIEMER (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY TOWNSHIP — Prince George is home for the Duchess Park Condors, but they have spent considerable time on the road.
Head coach Reid Roberts knew that his team had to be tournament tough if it was to compete for the B.C. senior girls Triple-A basketball championship. So he’s had them on the road most weekends this winter competing in tournaments throughout B.C. and Alberta.
It seems to have worked. For the second straight year, the Condors have advanced to the semi-finals of the B.C. Triple-A tourney.
Duchess Park relied once again on its depth and defeated the Mark Isfeld Ice of Courtenay 62-35 in a quarter-final Thursday at the Langley Events Centre.
Roberts thinks all that travel has helped his team get ready for big games.
“Up north, there’s not a lot of strong girls’ team,” he said. “And so we left every weekend. These kids are used to travelling on the road for eight, 10 hours, staying in hotels every weekend.”
Forward Anna MacKenzie, who was selected as the Condors player of the game in Thursday’s quarter-final win, said all that travel has brought the team together.
“It’s made our team very close, that’s for sure,” said MacKenzie, who scored 15 points in the win over Isfeld. “We spend so much time together with all the travel we have done.”
Although they won easy, the Condors had an early scare when Isfeld raced out to a 7-1 lead. Rather than panic, the Condors put on their hard-hats and upped the tempo and intensity.
By the time the first quarter was over, they led 15-10 and were up 48-29 at the half. They have advanced to the tournament semi-finals for the second straight year.
The Condors’ depth was once again on full display Thursday. Roberts uses his entire bench and everyone contributes.
“I feel like I can make these girls run, run, run, because I can pull fresh legs off the bench,” Roberts said. “I have four post players who I basically sub two at a time every five minutes, and they come in and they’re just relentless.”
Point guard Zahra Ngabo does a terrific job of running the Duchess Park offence and she is surrounded by a group of hard-working role players.
“People focus on Zahra being our star player, and she clearly is a fantastic player, but our other players have been doing this all season where they come in and just contribute,” Roberts said.
Guard Devyn Bjorn led all scorers with 16 points. Guard Rylan Boccabella had a game-high 17 points for the Ice.
Duchess Park will meet the No. 1-ranked Vernon Panthersin Friday’s second semi-final at 5 p.m.
NO. 1 VERNON NO. 9 VALLEYVIEW
By BRAD ZIEMER (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY TOWNSHIP — The Vernon Panthers are ranked No. 1 for many reasons. Size isn’t one of them.
Forward Adie Janke is five-foot-11. No one else stands taller than 5-foot-8. So the Panthers aren’t going to overpower teams.
Coach Dave Tetrault just laughs.
“Because we are so small, we have to play defence,” he said. “I call it defence like your hair is on fire.”
It worked again Thursday as the Panthers advanced to the Final Four of the B.C. senior girls Triple-A basketball championships with a hard-fought 55-48 win over the feisty Valleyview Vikes of Kamloops.
“I was laughing watching the referees today and they’re like out of gas,” Tetrault said after what was a fast-paced game.
The ninth-seeded Vikes definitely did not run out of gas. They played the Panthers tough from start to finish, battling through the full-court pressure they faced from Vernon.
As happy as he was with his team’s performance, Tetrault spoke highly of the fight the Panthers got from the opposition.
“The last time we played them, we won by 40,” he said of what is a young Valleyview team. “They played so hard today. They played non-stop. Kudos to them.”
The Panthers emerged with a 26-20 lead after a hotly contested first half. They stretched that lead to as many as 13 points in the second half, but Valleyview kept battling back.
“It was bad-ass basketball.” Tetrault said. “There were no easy shots today. We’re just happy to advance. Sometimes you just have to find a way and we found a way.”
Some precise outside shooting from guard Chloe Collins helped the Panthers. Collins drained five three-pointers and led the team with 17 points. Forward Adie Janke added 15 points for the Panthers.
Vernon was 23-4 this season and is undefeated against Triple-A opposition. The Panthers have made the provincials 19 times in the last 20 years.
This year they have a chance to win it all. Tetrault knows it won’t be easy. Being No. 1 means you have a target on your back.
The Panthers will meet the Duchess Park Condors of Prince George in the semi-finals at 5 p.m. Friday.
“We played them once this year and had a really great game,” Tetrault said of Duchess Park. “We won that game, but I think they’re a really improved team now from when we saw them In January. I know it’s going to be another tough game. They’re a little bigger than us, but I could say that about everybody.”
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