BY GARY AHUJA (Special for VarsityLetters.ca)
Welcome to Day 1 of the Junior Girls Basketball Provincial Invitational Tournament.
Wednesday’s second-round winners now advance to the Championship Round with all four quarter-final games set to be played at R.E. Mountain Secondary.
The action gets underway at 4:00pm between No. 4 South Kamloops and No. 5 Reynolds with No. 1 St. Michaels University School battling No. 8 Little Flower Academy at 5:30pm for the top half of the bracket.
The bottom half features No. 2 Seaquam against No. 7 Pacific Academy in an all-South Fraser battle at 7:00pm before the quarter-final round concludes with No. 3 Okanagan Mission and No. 6 Yale at 8:30pm.
Second Round Games
Okanagan Mission Huskies 80 St. Thomas Aquinas Fighting Saints 35
A ten-point game at the half, Kelowna’s Okanagan Mission Huskies exploded for 45 points over the final 16 minutes in an 80-35 win over North Vancouver’s St. Thomas Aquinas Fighting Saints.
The trio of Jada Burden (22 points), Peyton Holmes (17) and Maya Andruchow (16) led the Huskies. OKM managed to hit a dozen three-pointers with Burden sinking four and Holmes a trio from behind the arc.
Alessandra Panzetta led the Fighting Saints with 10 points.
Yale 41 Oak Bay 38
A furious fourth-quarter rally saw Abbotsford’s Yale Lions outscore Victoria’s Oak Bay Breakers 13-2 for a come-from-behind 41-38 victory. The Breakers seemed to be in control as they led 36-28 with eight minutes to play but Yale scored 15 consecutive points to take a 37-36 lead – their first lead since the second quarter. Oak Bay’ Eden Henderson would put the Breakers back on top before the Lions scored back-to-back buckets to secure the win.
Tylin Manning led the Lions with 10 points, all of which came in the first quarter as she battled foul trouble before eventually fouling out. Jessiah Brehaut led Oak Bay with 13 points, including a trio of three-pointers.
Seaquam Seahawks 50 St. Thomas More Collegiate Knights 25
The Seaquam Seahawks scored the game’s first 14 points and were off the races as the Delta squad doubled up Burnaby’s St. Thomas More Collegiate Knights by a 50-25 score. And it was a balanced offensive attack for the Seahawks with four players scoring in double digits as Hamina Gill had a dozen points, Neelum Sidhu had 11 and Syra Toor and Sydney Roufosse each had 10 points apiece. Demicah Arnaldo led the Knights with 12 points.
South Kamloops Titans 58 Holy Cross Crusaders 39
A two-point game late in the third quarter, the South Kamloops Titans were finally able to generate some separation in the fourth quarter as they held off the Holy Cross Crusaders 58-39.
“It was a grind. Holy Cross … they came to play, and it was a tough, grind-it-out affair in the first half and continued into the third and eventually we got a few things going and were able to pull away. Hats off to them,” said Titans coach Del Komarniski.
“I liked the fact that we hung in there; things weren’t easy, and didn’t get easy, but we kept plugging away until we found a way.”
The game was tight for much of the first 24 minutes as South Kamloops held slim leads of two points after one quarter and just one point at the half and then two points in the third before the Titans scored the period’s final six points to open up an eight-point lead.
Lucy Marchese led South Kamloops with 15 points while Kiana Kaczur had 14, which included a pair of three-pointers in the third quarter. And while those two did the bulk of the damage in the first three quarters, the Titans showed their depth as Ashtynn Gurnsey scored eight of her nine points in the fourth quarter and Kylee Hoppes scored six of her 13 in the final eight minutes.
The Crusaders’ Siena Legazpi and Keira Legazpi had 10 points apiece for Holy Cross.
Reynolds Roadrunners 60 Kelowna Owls 59
Coach Kim Graves knows just how important a day one victory is.
“The first game is the most important game because now anything is possible,” said the Reynolds Roadrunner coach after her Victoria squad held on for a 60-59 win over the Kelowna Owls to advance to the eight-team championship draw.
It was a back-and-forth game with the biggest lead being seven points and the game tied eight times and featuring 14 lead changes. The last of the lead changes came in the final two minutes as the Roadrunners went from trailing 57-54 to scoring six of the last eight points.
“Kelowna is full of athletes; they have some really strong slashers. We struggled to manage their strength when they attacked the rim. I think we were consistent defensively,” Grave said. “We knew if we stayed strong, we played good help ‘D’, we would eventually pull ahead, but I didn’t know, I am not going to lie.”
And it was the defence that came through in the end as Kelowna had the ball but some suffocating full-court pressure from Saige Parfitt resulted in an eight-second violation with 12.4 seconds to go and the Owls never touched the ball again.
The trio of Isabella Graves (25 points), Skyler Lubben 916 points) and Parfitt (12 points) carried Reynolds as the trio combined for 53 points. For the Owls, it was Sarah Litrico with 21 points and Emma Pinkerton with 19.
South Kamloops Titans 58 Holy Cross Crusaders 39
A two-point game late in the third quarter, the South Kamloops Titans were finally able to generate some separation in the fourth quarter as they held off the Holy Cross Crusaders 58-39.
“It was a grind. Holy Cross … they came to play, and it was a tough, grind-it-out affair in the first half and continued into the third and eventually we got a few things going and were able to pull away. Hats off to them,” said Titans coach Del Komarniski.
“I liked the fact that we hung in there; things weren’t easy, and didn’t get easy, but we kept plugging away until we found a way.”
The game was tight for much of the first 24 minutes as South Kamloops held slim leads of two points after one quarter and just one point at the half and then two points in the third before the Titans scored the period’s final six points to open up an eight-point lead.
Lucy Marchese led South Kamloops with 15 points while Kiana Kaczur had 14, which included a pair of three-pointers in the third quarter. And while those two did the bulk of the damage in the first three quarters, the Titans showed their depth as Ashtynn Gurnsey scored eight of her nine points in the fourth quarter and Kylee Hoppes scored six of her 13 in the final eight minutes.
The Crusaders’ Siena Legazpi and Keira Legazpi had 10 points apiece for Holy Cross.
No. 9 Walnut Grove Gators vs. No. 8 Little Flower Academy Angels
After the Walnut Grove Gators hit a three-pointer to open the fourth quarter – cutting the deficit to five points – Vancouver’s Little Flower Academy Angels shifted into another gear, holding their Langley opponent without a field goal the rest of the quarter (allowing just a pair of made free throws) while their offence went on a 15-1 run for the 54-36 victory.
Isabella Heffring scored 12 of her game-high 19 points in the second half while Maria Drazenovic chipped in with a dozen points for the Angels. The Gators’ Kyanna Knodel led her team with 12.
The Angels were seeded eighth in the field while the No. 9 Gators were 63-19 winners over Handsworth in the very first game of the tournament earlier in the day.
SMUS Blue Jags 63 Notre Dame Jugglers 17
A new cast of characters but the same dominant result as two years ago.
Fresh off a silver medal finish in 2020 at the last championship tournament, Victoria’s St. Michaels University School Blue Jags did not miss a beat as the No. 1 seed throttled the No. 17 Notre Dame Jugglers (Vancouver) 63-17 as Grade 9 guard Charlie Anderson single-handedly outscored the opponent as she struck for a game-high 20 points.
“We have looked forward to this weekend for a long time,” said SMUS coach Micah Roberts. “We were able to get a lot of players into the game and the bench players did really well for us, which is exciting to see.”
In addition to Anderson’s offensive output, Fellow guard Alex Motherwell chipped in with 16 points as the team received contributions up and down the line-up.
Notre Dame was playing its second game of the day having edged No. 16 Burnaby South 49-41 earlier on Wednesday.
Qualification Games (opening round)
Walnut Grove Gators 63 Handsworth Royals 19
Led by Anna Koo’s 14 points, the Walnut Grove Gators kicked off the tournament with a 63-19 win over the Handsworth Royals.
Notre Dame Jugglers 49 Burnaby South Rebels 41
Notre Dame’s Kalpidis scored 12 of her 19 points in the second quarter as the Jugglers scored a 49-41 win over Burnaby South.
Kelowna Owls 45 Abbotsford Traditional Titans 29
The Kelowna Owls used a dominant third quarter to turn a four-point lead into a 19-point advantage as they downed the Abbotsford Traditional Titans 45-29.
Holy Cross Crusaders 63 Duchess Park Condors 31
A 14-0 second-quarter run turned a three-point game into a blowout as Surrey’s Holy Cross Crusaders grounded the Duchess Park Condors from Prince George with Holy Cross’ Isla Kelly lighting up the scoreboard to the tune of 26 points.
St. Thomas More Collegiate Knights 31 M.E.I. Eagles 27
The closest game of the qualification round pitted Burnaby’s STM Knights against Abbotsford’s M.E.I. Eagles with the Knights scoring the first 12 points of the second half to turn a one-point lead into a double-digits advantage. The Eagles would battle back to cut the lead to four, but could get no closer, falling 31-27.
Sir Alexander Mackenzie Cubs 65 Brookswood Bobcats 31
A balanced offensive attack which saw them score in double digits in all four quarters helped the Sir Alexander Mackenzie Cubs post the highest score of any team in the first window of the game as they put up 65 compared to the 31 of Langley’s Brookswood Bobcats. Annika Par led the victors with 22 points.
St. Thomas Aquinas 42 Panorama Ridge Thunder 37
Oak Bay Breakers 49 Heritage Woods Kodiaks 38
Victoria’s Oak Bay Breakers raced out to an 18-2 lead and led by double digits the rest of the way as they knocked off Port Moody’s Heritage Wood Kodiaks 49-38. The Breakers’ Eden Henderson hit five three-pointers as part of her 29-point game.
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