Bringing focus to team basketball, UFV Cascades' veteran forward Natalie Rathler (centre with ball) locks eyes with hard-cutting teammate Alexis Worrell during a game against the TWU Spartans. The 8-1 teams meet for a pair this weekend in Abbotsford. (Photo by Gibi Saini property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

Cascades thriving on its “one tough shot” mantra! Canada West’s top defence keys empowering ripple effect as 8-1 UFV hosts 9-1 TWU in weekend summit series!

ABBOTSFORD — It’s an axiom which has echoed through countless Fraser Valley Cascades’ women’s basketball practices over the 20 years in which Al Tuchscherer has served as the program’s head coach.This season, however, you could say in a figurative sense that those echoes have become deafening.“We always say that we want to give teams one […]

The Abbotsford Traditional Titans continued to hold down a place in the B.C. senior girls Double-A Top 10 rankings this week. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

B.C. senior girls Top 10 Double-A basketball rankings 01.19.22: Mulgrave, Notre Dame jump up into Top 5 territory!

LANGLEY — West Vancouver’s Mulgrave Titans have made a move into the top four of the most recent B.C. senior girls Double-A basketball rankings released earlier this week.Langley Christian remains No. 1, while Vancouver’s Notre Dame Jugglers make the big jump up to No. 5 from No. 10.B.C.’s three other tiers did not conduct ranking […]

A take-charge leader on the floor, King George point guard Max Astak (left) drives past Burnaby's South's Zach Chan during the 2021 TBI championship final Dec. 11 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Wilson Wong protected image of photographer via Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

The inner fire of King George’s Dragon king! Basketball gave Max Astak the voice to become a leader in tough times!

VANCOUVER — Growing up as the son of immigrant parents, Max Astak admits it wasn’t always easy to traverse cultures and make the kinds of social connections so important in the lives of young people.“But for me, basketball united me with others,” the senior point guard with Vancouver’s King George Dragons explains.“My parents came here […]

Abbotsford's Jahvon Maksymiw (right) and the rest of the Quad-A Panthers have moved up to No. 5 in the latest B.C. Top 10 rankings. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

B.C. boys high school basketball rankings 01.18.22 edition: Top 10’s top climbers include Abbotsford, Pacific Academy, Mark Isfeld and Unity Christian!

LANGLEY — Cancellations seemed to rival actual games played over another tough week in the B.C. boys high school basketball week.Teams of the week?Quad-A’s Abbotsford Panthers and Semiahmoo Totems of Surrey, Triple-A’s Mark Isfeld Ice of Courtenay, the Double-A Pacific Academy Breakers of Surrey, and the Single-A duo of Chilliwack’s Unity Christian Flames and Maple […]

On a team filled with talented Grade 11 players, St. Thomas More point guard Tarrence Booker is one of the big reasons that Burnaby's Knights sit at No. 6 in the B.C. Triple-A rankings. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

St. Thomas More’s Tarrence Booker: Through his basketball bloodlines & Knights’ hoop traditions, Grade 11 point guard gains deeper appreciation for the game!

BURNABY — At the age of 16, you could say that the pages of Tarrence Booker’s basketball life are just now being written.Yet engage the St. Thomas More Collegiate Grade 11 point guard on any number of topics, both on and off the court, and it becomes pretty clear that he’s already a few chapters […]

Simon Fraser's Elliot Dimaculangan twice hit big second-half treys but shorthanded SFU fell to host St. Martin's on Saturday in Lacey, Wash. (Photo by Paul Yates property of SFU athletics 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Shy its top two scorers and coming off a 40-day lay-off, Simon Fraser men battle hard in loss at first-place St. Martin’s

Maybe some time later this season, the Simon Fraser men’s basketball team will have the basketball karma work in their favour.On the road Saturday in Lacey (Wash.), that was clearly not the case in an 80-55 loss to the host St. Martin’s Saints (11-3, 4-1), who used the win to move into first place in […]

Burnaby South big man Karan Aujla goes to the glass to score two of his 19 first-half points Saturday in a win over host Vancouver College. (Photo by Burnaby South media team of Shamira Alberts and Sarah Lewis property of Rebels Athletics 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

In front of empty gym, No. 1 Burnaby South gets its toughest test yet, but 16-0 Rebels let guards roam free in 77-64 win over No. 2 Van College Irish!

VANCOUVER — It was likely the quietest top-tiered No. 1 vs No. 2 senior boys basketball game in B.C. high school history.Yet the No. 1 Burnaby South Rebels’ 77-64 win over the host, No. 2-ranked Vancouver College Fighting Irish on Saturday night, played in front of an empty set of stands at the host site […]

KIng George Dragon senior guard Palmer Currie (right) looks to try and slow McMath's 6-foot-10 centre Kyle Christofferson Dec. 9, 2021 at the Langley Events Centre during the Tsumura Basketball Invitational. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

“Just encourage the coaches to get their schedules to me!”BCboysbasketball.com’s Tom Tagami asks B.C. boys coaches to keep site’s content as reliable as ever!

LANGLEY — B.C. boys high school basketball has the website that is the envy of the entire B.C. high school sports world.Voluminous and complete, it has for years been the lifeline of information for its teams, coaches, players and just as important, its fans and the media, providing not only complete schedules, but scores updated […]

Trinity Western first-year guard Shemaiah Abatayo, continually looking to take her game to another level, gets the toughest test of her season Thursday. Abatayo's 8-0 Spartans entertain the 7-1 Fraser Valley Cascades at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Mark Janzen property of Trinity Western athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

B.C. women’s hoops game of the year! It’s 8-0 Trinity Western against 7-1 Fraser Valley in what’s shaping up as a classic clash Thursday night at the LEC!

LANGLEY — They are historic geographic rivals dating back to their days on the provincial college circuit when the British Columbia Collegiate Athletic Association was perhaps the longest league moniker in all of North American post-secondary sports.And they’ve spent a good long time building up their respective programs since moving up to U SPORTS.Yet on […]

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A Vancouver College vs. Walnut Grove clash for the 2022 B.C. junior boys championship? If the latest rankings play out, that would be the matchup! (Photo by Blair Shier property of Blair.photo 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

B.C. junior boys basketball rankings 01.11.22: WGSS Gators move up to No. 2, Byrne Creek and Spectrum inch closer to Top 10!

Langley’s Walnut Grove Gators have moved into the top two in the latest B.C. junior boys Top 10 basketball rankings released Tuesday. Vancouver College continues to hold down the No. 1 spot.Meanwhile, Surrey’s Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers crack the top 10, while Burnaby’s Byrne Creek Bulldogs, and the Spectrum Thunder of Victoria work their way into […]