Langley's Christian's Grade 10 sensation Makenna Gardner scored 28 points to lead the Lightning past the Whistler Storm. (Howard Tsumura photo property of VarsityLetters.ca) (Howard Tsumura photo property of VarsityLetters.ca)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

02.28.18: Complete Day 1 reports from the B.C. senior girls AA basketball championships

We’ve got reports from all eight games played in the opening round of the B.C. senior girls AA basketball championship draw but first, here’s Friday’s championship round draw:

FRIDAY

QUARTERFINALS

B.C. GIRLS AA DRAW

CHAMPIONSHIP SIDE

TOP SIDE

6:45 p.m. — South Kamloops vs. Langley Christian

8:15 p.m. — Okanagan Mission vs. St. Thomas Aquinas

BOTTOM SIDE

5:15 p.m. — Britannia vs. Vernon

1:45 p.m. — G.W. Graham vs. Duchess Park

Vernon’s Kelsey Falk (centre) is defended by St. Thomas More’s Shiloh Corrales-Nelson (left) and Cassie DiGirolamo during A opening-round action Wednesday at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca)

 

 

VERNON 65 ST. THOMAS MORE 50

LANGLEY — Three double-double performances highlighted a dominant evening on the glass for the Vernon Panthers in their win over STM’s Knights.

Kelsey Falk (20 points, 14 rebounds), Ashley Bugden (17, 10) and Mackenzie Horst (15, 12) helped give the Panthers 63-to-36 edge in rebounding and Vernon had more offensive rebounds (24) than STM had defensive rebounds (18).

Aurafel Domingo and Emma Stewart-Barnett each scored 14 points for the Knights.

Tiana Sacco and the Britannia Bruins topped the Mark Isfeld Ice in opening round AA provincial playoffs on Wednesday at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca)

BRITANNIA 75 MARK ISFELD 31

LANGLEY — Shemaiah Abatayo and Surprise Munie scored 17 and 16 points respectively with Munie grabbing 13 rebounds as Vancouver’s Bruins  won comfortably over Courtenay’s Ice.

The Bruins limited Mark Isfled to just three points in the third quarter.

Britannia post Malena Mokhovikova had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Myah Erikson led the Ice with 13 points.

G.W. Graham’s Jaya Bannerman battles through the LFA Angels to the basket on Wednesday at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca)

GW GRAHAM 82 LITTLE FLOWER ACADEMY 42

LANGLEY — Deanna Tuchscherer was head-and-shoulders above the pack on Wednesday.

The G.W. Graham Grizzlies’ 6-foot-1 Grade 11 forward poured home 33 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to carry the Chilliwack school to a decisive win over Vancouver’s LFA Angels.

Jaya Bannerman, the point guard who joined Tuchscherer as part of the 2018 Baden BCSSGBA Super 15 B.C. Dream Team, added 11 points in the win.

Ashley Velasco led the Angels with 12 points and seven rebounds.

Okanagan Mission’s Stef Young drives to the hoop against Olivia Davey of Smithers. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca)

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS 67 SMUS 55

LANGLEY — One year ago, North Vancouver’s St. Thomas Aquinas Fighting Saints started a run that would conclude with the B.C. junior girls title.

On Wednesday, those same Saints, now a year older and playing at the senior level, began what they hope can be a another title-winning run.

Jessica Clarke scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds while Gemma Cutler scored 17 points and grabbed six boards in a 67-55 win over Victoria’s St. Michaels University School Blue Jags.

STA, which built its lead to as many as 17 points in the third quarter, got another 10 points from Olivia Thorpe.

Jordan Stonehouse hit six triples and a scored a game-high 22 points for the Blue Jags.

OKANAGAN MISSION 62 SMITHERS 37

LANGLEY — Malley Richardson with 16 points, and Jenna Robinson with 12 points led a balanced attack that saw 10 players hit the scoresheet as Kelowna’s Huskies were convincing over Smithers Gryphons.

Okanagan Mission held Smithers to 19 points through the first three quarters before the Gryphons outscored OKM 18-13 in the fourth quarter.

DUCHESS PARK 59 WESTSYDE 32

LANGLEY — Limiting Kamloops’ Whundas to a mere 15 points between the second and third quarters proved to be the difference as Prince George’s Duchess Park Condors advanced to the provincial quarterfinals on Thursday.

Hannah Loukes led three Condors in double figures with 14 points, while Rebecca Landry added 12 and Sydney Lopez 11. Kayla Gregory had 10 rebounds to go along with eight points. Loukes was 4-of-7 from distance in the win.

Ryallie Jorgensen led the Whundas with 13 points.

LANGLEY CHRISTIAN 59 WHISTLER 53

LANGLEY — Just call her Mighty Makenna because even when she shoots and doesn’t score, Langley Christian’s Grade 10 point guard Makenna Gardner can affect the tenor of her team.

Looking sluggish as the third quarter was about to end against the Whistler Storm in the opening round of the 2018 B.C. senior girls AA basketball championships, Gardner dribbled to half court, and in an attempt to beat the clock put up a flare that appeared to beat the clock.

The officials waved it off, but no matter. It seemed to wake up the hometown Lightning, spurring them to their highest scoring quarter of the game and an eventual 59-53 win over the Storm.

“It gave us an invigoration on the bench, that we just need to keep playing hard one quarter at a time,” said Makenna’s mom, LCS head coach Dani Gardner, the former TWU women’s head coach who last season led a veteran-laden Lightning squad to third place at provincials.

The Lightning were outscored 15-7 by the Storm in that third quarter, and took a slim 40-38 advantage into the final frame.

“I just needed to get a shot off and so I just threw it up and hoped,” said Gardner, who finished with a game-high 28 points despite her non-basket. “I even shot it with my (non-shooting) left hand. After that, we realized that we just had to work hard and the whoever worked the hardest was going to win this game.”

Hailey van Roekel added 11 points in the win, while Aya Krpee added 10.

Whistler, making its first-ever trip to senior girls provincials, got 15 points from Ayden Kristmanson, 12 from Nevada Knapton and 10 from Pietra Kamstra.

“We’ve come a long ways since our little U-13 team,” laughed Makenna Gardner, whose charges now face No. 1-seeded South Kamloops in a 6:45 p.m. quarterfinal on Thursday.

SOUTH KAMLOOPS 84 SELKIRK 22

LANGLEY — Olivia Morgan-Cherchas scored 18 of her game-high 30 points in the first quarter and the No. 1 seeded South Kamloops Titans topped the out-matched Storm in convincing fashion.

Point guard Maddy Gobeil added 19 for the winners while Aspen Cooper led the Storm with seven points.

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