LANGLEY — We’ve gone final on our reports from the B.C. 4A, 3A and 2A games played at the Langley Events Centre tonight with reports from all 12 of the games played at South Court, Centre Court and the Fieldhouse gyms.
We’ll be back again tomorrow with reports from all four tiers as Final Four Friday hits the LEC!
BASKETBALL
B.C. SENIOR GIRLS CHAMPIONSHIPS
DAY 1
DOUBLE A
TOP HALF DRAW
NO. 4 ST. THOMAS MORE 47, NO. 5 SOUTHRIDGE 33
LANGLEY — In a game where points were at an absolute premium, a fleeting first-quarter flurry from Demicah Arnaldo made all the difference as her St. Thomas More Knights topped the Southridge Storm in provincial 2A quarter-final action on Thursday afternoon.
Arnaldo, the Knights’ 5’2” Grade 11 point guard, stood tall in the early going, draining a trio of triples in quick succession to stake her squad to a 17-9 lead after the opening frame.
In a defensive-minded clash where the two teams only combined for four more treys between them for the rest of the game, Arnaldo’s early outburst proved critical, sparking her squad to a 47-33 triumph and a Final Four berth.
Arnaldo finished with a game-high 16 points, and fellow Grade 11 Mia Beliveau chipped in with 13 for the Burnaby squad.
The Surrey-based Storm managed to close to within seven points in the third quarter, but key buckets from Arnaldo, Beliveau and Meara McCormick snuffed their comeback bid.
Southridge’s scoring came exclusively off the fingertips of three players: senior guard Rianna Brar poured in a team-best 13 points, while Grade 11s Nicole Lofing (11 points) and Jayda Randhawa (seven points) also chipped in offensively.
NO. 1 HOLY CROSS 82, NO. 8 NOTRE DAME 47
BY DAN KINVIG (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY — Like Tom Cruise and Anthony Edwards in the original Top Gun, the Holy Cross Crusaders feel the need… the need for speed.
The Crusaders’ collective motor, particularly when transitioning from defence to offence, is always revving in the red. The speed with which a Holy Cross defensive rebound becomes a fast-break layup was eye-opening on Thursday afternoon, powering the top-seeded Surrey squad to a dominant 82-47 victory over the No. 8 Notre Dame Jugglers.
Any of the Crusaders’ five players on the floor at any given time seem to have the green light, if they grab a rebound, to either lead the break themselves or fire a baseball pass the length of the court to a streaking teammate.
That’s not to say that Notre Dame, with its collection of fleet-footed perimeter players, is adverse to an uptempo game. But Holy Cross’s relentless commitment to pushing the pace – going deep into their bench and bringing in fresh subs at seemingly every stoppage – wore the Jugglers out in the second half.
“We do a lot of running at practice, and that for sure translates to the game, with our ability to play faster than everyone else and our ability to push the ball,” noted Grade 11 guard Isla Iannuzzi, who picked up player of the game honours. “We have some really good passers and really good finishers, and I think we did a good job executing that today.
“Anyone can make that long pass (down the floor), as long as somebody’s running up there. We’ve got a lot of track girls, so we’ve usually got lots of girls running.”
Holy Cross controlled the play in the first half, but their margin was only 38-27 at the break.
They broke the game open in the third quarter, though, reeling off a 21-3 surge to drain any suspense from the proceedings.
Forwards Alessia Palma (6’1”) and Solene Jackson (6’0”) were outstanding for the Crusaders, posting 21 and 15 points, respectively. Iannuzzi added 20 points for the winners.
Selina Quilatan, Notre Dame’s Grade 10 point guard, showed she’s one to watch for the future, racking up a team-best 20 points including a trio of three-pointers, while senior Emily Chan contributed 13 points.
BOTTOM HALF DRAW
NO. 2 ST. MICHAELS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL 72, NO. 7 PACIFIC ACADEMY 28
BY DAN KINVIG (Special for Varsity Letters)
One of the special things about following the B.C. high school basketball championships year after year is watching players grow up before your eyes.
It seems like only yesterday that Avery Geddes was on this same LEC Fieldhouse hardwood, starring for the St. Michaels University School Blue Jags in her first trip to senior girls provincials.
That was 2022, and Geddes was in Grade 9 – precocious enough to earn a second team all-star nod as her squad secured the 2A bronze medal.
Watching her on Thursday as her team took on the Pacific Academy Breakers in quarter-final action, she’s grown a few inches, yes, and she’s got a scholarship to play basketball for the Victoria Vikes in place for next season. But the next-level calm and poise that were hallmarks of her game even as a Grade 9 are instantly recognizable.
“It’s a lot different being here this year,” Geddes said with a smile postgame, reflecting on her growth as a player over her four years at provincials. “I see myself more as a leader now. Back then I had to be a leader as a point guard, but now I’m a leader on and off the court, giving my teammates more feedback.”
With Geddes’ steady hand at the wheel, the Blue Jags were in full control vs. Pacific Academy.
After trailing 4-2 early, SMUS reeled off a 21-0 run encompassing the rest of the first quarter and bleeding into the second. Late in the frame, Geddes drilled a tough contested jumper followed by a fast-break layup to stake her squad to a 35-14 lead at the half.
Another surge in the third quarter, amounting to 14 consecutive points, sealed the deal for the Blue Jags.
Geddes scored an efficient 17 points en route to player of the game honours, and Charlie Anderson joined her in double digits with 14 points.
Omuwa Idanwekhai led the Breakers with eight points, and Amelie Baril added seven points.
Leafing back through the tournament history books, you realize that during Geddes’s tenure, the Blue Jags have yet to miss the provincial podium. Playing at the 3A level in 2023 and 2024, SMUS made the final both years, only to finish as runners-up. Geddes added her second provincial all-star nod, a first-team accolade, last year.
It’s a long-term legacy few can match, and she and her squad would love to build on it this season, completing the medal collection with gold.
“It would mean so much,” Geddes said. “We’re an experienced squad, and it takes experience, and I feel like we have an edge on teams in that way. It’ll take giving everything – diving for 50-50 balls, giving all of our heart to it.”
SMUS head coach Lindsay Brooke also happens to be Geddes’s mom, and acknowledged it’s a special thing to share this four-year journey on the provincial stage.
“Honestly, I probably won’t reflect on it too much until it’s over,” Brooke said. “I’ve coached her forever, I’ve coached her in middle school… it’s just kind of what happens when your mom is a coach and a teacher. She grew up around basketball.
“I’m so proud of her. It’s amazing, watching her. I love her style of play, I love that she’s a point guard. At the end of the day, she’s a great human being and a super-nice kid, and she loves basketball. I want her to just go, you know? Her tourney’s not over. That part of it is bittersweet.”
As for what it will take to get the Blue Jags over the hump?
“We’re going to be in tough the next two games,” Brooke said. “We’re going to have to be dialed in defensively, and shoot the ball a little bit better. We haven’t really found our rhythm yet, shooting the ball.
“I think we can get it done – I do believe that every year. It’s just magic getting here.”
NO. 6 BRITANNIA 57, NO. 3 LANGLEY CHRISTIAN 55
BY DAN KINVIG (Special for Varsity Letters)
In the dying moments of Thursday’s 2A quarter-final clash, with her team’s once-prodigious lead having been whittled down to a handful of points, Britannia Bruins senior Bianca Padolina absorbed a hard foul, crashed to the floor, and stayed down.
The LEC Fieldhouse, for the first time in nearly two hours, was silent.
Nervous moments, to say the least.
Bruins coach Mike Evans didn’t rush out onto the floor, though, nor did any member of his staff. His firm exhortation from the sideline to his star point guard: “Bianca, get up!”
Padolina, who had taken a sharp knee to the thigh, heard his voice, snapped out of it, and dragged herself to her feet. Her team needed her.
The moment epitomized the No. 6-seeded Bruins’ gritty approach on this night, as they hung on to upset the reigning 2A champion Langley Christian Lightning by a 57-55 count – arguably the most stunning result of the week thus far across all tiers.
“These are memories for a lifetime, right?” Evans said afterward, explaining his instinctive decision to encourage Padolina to persevere through the pain at crunch time. “I didn’t want her to end up with a coulda, woulda, shoulda. ‘I could have stayed in the game,’ know what I mean?
“There’s something about that mentality about not giving up and not giving in, and she did it.”
That, she did. And she was far from alone, as the entire Britannia community came together for an unforgettable performance.
Though the LEC is technically a neutral site, so often over the years, Langley Christian has enjoyed a sense of home court advantage as a provincial tournament fixture playing in their hometown.
On Thursday, that was decidedly not the situation.
The Vancouver-based Bruin fanbase, you see, travels well. Very well.
With a leather-lunged student section situated on the west baseline, and a sizable contingent of family members seated in the stands at midcourt, the Bruins surfed a wave of fan-fueled adrenaline to a 17-13 lead early in the second quarter, prompting a Lightning timeout.
Langley Christian regained its footing at that point, and ended the frame on a 6-0 run to take a 24-22 lead into halftime.
In the locker room, though, the Bruins were confident. Their ball pressure had yielded not only a series of turnovers – seriously, good luck trying to dribble the basketball when Grade 11 guard Chenesayi Kagande is in the vicinity – it had a compounding effect in limiting the Lightning’s three-point snipers while cranking up the degree of difficulty on post entry passes to Gaby Vis, Langley Christian’s towering 6-foot-3 Grade 10 centre.
Britannia tore off a 14-0 run early in the third quarter, headlined by a pair of three-pointers from Kagande and one from Taegan Lee. Then to open the fourth, they scored six consecutive points to send their fans into hysterics. The lead was 50-32, and victory seemed imminent.
The No. 3-seeded Lightning, though, showed their championship mettle. Payton Brunoro led a furious comeback, drilling a trio of triples to get her team back to within single digits. The Bruins, meanwhile, saw senior standout Tessa Scarlett-Charleson foul out with 7:15 left in regulation, and they appeared to be running out of gas as a group.
With her team clinging to a 53-49 lead with inside of two minutes left, Padolina crumpled to the ground in pain, only to pick herself up and hit one of two free throws to extend the lead to five points.
The Lightning weren’t done, though. Brunoro wove her way through traffic for a lefty layup, and Zoe Bradshaw stole the ball at midcourt and had a clear path to the rim, making it 54-53 with just over a minute remaining.
After Lee split a pair of free throws to make it 55-53, Bradshaw saw her potential go-ahead three rim out, and a Padolina free throw subsequently made it 56-53. The Lightning’s Georgia Van Der Waarde drove to the rim to cut the deficit to a single point once again in the dying seconds, but another Padolina free throw provided the final margin.
“I just can’t believe it, I don’t know what to say,” a tearful Padolina enthused after being embraced by a crush of fans after the final buzzer. “I’m so happy to do this in front of our community and our fans, and my whole family came out today. I’m doing this for them.”
Padolina finished with 16 points, and all of Kagande’s 15 points came on shots from beyond the arc. Lee added 14 crucial points for the winners, and Scarlett-Charleson notched nine.
Vis’s 15 points paced the Lightning, Brunoro scored 11 of her 13 points in the fourth quarter, and Bradshaw posted 13 points of her own.
Afterward, Kagande was asked when her team started to believe this upset was within reach, and she rejected the premise of the question entirely.
“At no point did we not think we could win,” she said. “We’re a really strong team, and our coaches told us we were in this game no matter what – to walk out with our heads held high and play our game.
“Seeing all of our fans out there tonight reminds me I’m not just doing this for myself. There’s a whole community behind me. When I go back to school, those people are going to have my back no matter what.”
If you’re reading this story or viewing these photos on any website other than one belonging to a university athletic department, it has been taken without appropriate permission. In these challenging times, true journalism will survive only through your dedicated support and loyalty. VarsityLetters.ca and all of its exclusive content has been created to serve B.C.’s high school and university sports community with hard work, integrity and respect. Feel free to drop us a line any time at howardtsumura@gmail.com.
