LANGLEY — Down one returning starter but another year older and another season wiser, Surrey’s Semiahmoo Totems are, to no one’s surprise, an overwhelming favourite to repeat as B.C.’s top-tiered champs, this time at the brand-new Quad-A level.
Forward Faith Dut has moved on to a career with the Florida Gators, yet the main core of rising Grade 11s — Deja Lee, Tara Wallack, Izzy Forsyth, Raushan Bindra, Emily Wubs, Nicole Pajic — are all back for the Totems of the newly-christened Fraser River South zone.
Behind them, a great Thompson-Okanagan zone battle is shaping up between the No. 2 Kelowna Owls and the No. 3 Okanagan Mission Huskies.
Langley’s No. 4 Brookswood Bobcats, a Fraser Valley East school with Triple-A numbers, is leaning towards staying top-tiered but may elect to play at its numbers season.
Abbotsford’s Yale Lions, the favourites in the Quad-A Fraser Valley East, come in at No. 5 with a quartet of returnees, including sisters Neelam and Karishma Rai, Lily Borseth and Kyleigh Boldt.
Port Coquitlam has a bona-fide cross-city rivalry in play as the established No. 6 Riverside Rapids, led by holdover Grade 11-to-be Sammy Shields and its rising junior varsity B.C. Final Four finishers, clashes with the freshly-minted B.C. JV champion Terry Fox Ravens, the No. 7 squad which is led by a galaxy of incoming Grade 10s including Cerys Merton, Lauren Clements and Emily Sussex. Both teams will play out of the newly-formed Fraser River North zone.
Surrey’s Panorama Ridge Thunder, quiet since the 2015-16 season, return to prominence at No. 8.
Port Moody’s Heritage Woods Kodiaks and Surrey’s Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers round out the Top 10.
PRESEASON RANKINGS
SENIOR GIRLS
QUAD A
1 Semiahmoo Totems (Surrey) (1)
2 Kelowna Owls (4)
3 Okanagan Mission Huskies (Kelowna) (8)
4 Brookswood Bobcats (Langley) (3)
5 Yale Lions (Abbotsford) (6)
6 Riverside Rapids (Port Coquitlam) (5)
7 Terry Fox Ravens (Port Coquitlam) (*1)
8 Panorama Ridge Thunder (Surrey) (DNQ)
9 Heritage Woods Kodiaks (Port Moody) (DNQ)
10 Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers (Surrey) (DNQ)
Honourable mention — Walnut Grove Gators (Langley) (2), Claremont Spartans (Victoria) (DNQ), Cowichan Thunderbirds (Duncan) (DNQ)
Note — Top-tiered (3A) finish from the recent B.C. championships is indicated in parenthesis. DNQ — did not qualify; DNP — did not place in top nine. * — B.C. junior varsity championship finish.
(B.C. Secondary School Girls Basketball Association)
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