LANGLEY — It’s whole new world for B.C. senior girls high school basketball when the 2019-20 season tips off around the province on Monday.
While the cream of this province’s annual crop of top players and teams will eventually rise to the surface in time for March Madness, the paths so many will follow will be different as the sport enters a four-tiered existence for the first time.
And making the landscape even a little bit more fuzzy is the realignment of zones across all sports throughout the province.
Like the boys who made the same move back in 2013-14, the addition of a Quad-A tier will not only serve to sift to a more concentrated group of bigger schools at the top end, but as well create an entirely new sub-group of slightly smaller schools (the new Triple-A tier) who may not have been tested against each other in rivalry situations.
As St. Thomas, Fleetwood Park, Southridge, Rick Hansen, South Kamloops and North Delta have so ably demonstrated in winning the first six boys AAA titles, there is a new galaxy of rivalries set to take shape for the girls this season. Some of those schools, based on the preseason rankings, include Kelowna’s Okanagan Mission Huskies, the Argyle Pipers of North Vancouver, the Abbotsford Panthers, and Richmond’s R.A. McMath Wildcats.
Here are this season’s Top 10 Preseason B.C. senior girls basketball rankings from 4A through 1A, along with the B.C. junior girls rankings.
GIRLS
QUAD A
1 Semiahmoo Totems (White Rock)
2 Kelowna Owls (Kelowna)
3 Brookswood Bobcats (Langley)
4 Yale Lions (Abbotsford)
5 Walnut Grove Gators (Langley)
6 Terry Fox Ravens (Port Coquitlam)
7 Riverside Rapids (Port Coquitlam)
8 Panorama Ridge Thunder (Surrey)
9 Fleetwood Park Dragons (Surrey)
10 Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers (Surrey)
Honourable mention — Heritage Woods Kodiaks (Port Coquitlam); Claremont Spartans (Victoria); Earl Marriott Mariners (Surrey)
(BCSSGBA Executive)
TRIPLE A
1 Okanagan Mission Huskies (Kelowna)
2 Abbotsford Panthers (Abbotsford)
3 R.A. McMath Wildcats (Richmond)
4 Argyle Pipers (North Vancouver)
5 G.W. Graham Grizzlies (Chilliwack)
6 Vernon Panthers (Vernon)
7 MEI Eagles (Clearbrook)
8 Pitt Meadows Marauders (Pitt Meadows)
9 Valleyview Vikings (Kamloops)
10 Duchess Park Condors (Prince George)
Honourable mention — South Kamloops Titans, Windsor Dukes (North Vancouver), St. Michaels University School Blue Jags (Victoria)
(BCSSGBA Executive)
DOUBLE A
1 Langley Christian Lightning
2 St Thomas Aquinas Fighting Saints (North Vancouver)
3 Britannia Bruins (Vancouver)
4 St. Thomas More Knights (Burnaby)
5 St. John Brebeuf Bears (Abbotsford)
6 Southridge Storm (Surrey)
7 Lambrick Lions Pride (Victoria)
8 York House Tigers (Vancouver)
9 Seycove Seyhawks (North Vancouver)
10 Pacific Christian Pacers (Victoria)
Honourable mention — Notre Dame Jugglers (Vancouver), Holy Cross Crusaders (Surrey), Nechako Valley Viqueens (Vanderhoof)
(BCSSGBA Executive)
SINGLE A
1 Credo Christian Kodiaks (Langley)
2 Unity Christian Flames (Chilliwack)
3 Kelowna Christian Knights (Kelowna)
4 Bulkley Valley Christian Royals (Smithers)
5 St. Andrew’s Sabres (Victoria)
6 Khalsa Lions (Surrey)
7 Heritage Christian Saints (Kelowna)
8 Grand Forks Wolves
9 Sir Alexander MacKenzie Griffins (Hagensborg)
10 Fernie Falcons
Honourable mention — Pemberton Red Devils, Northside Christian Northstars (Vanderhoof)
(BCSSGBA Executive)
JUNIOR
1 Kelowna Owls
2 R.A. McMath Wildcats (Richmond)
3 Brookswood Bobcats (Langley)
4 Brentwood College (Mill Bay)
5 Seycove Seyhawks (North Vancouver)
6 Riverside Rapids (Port Coquitlam)
7 Walnut Grove Gators (Langley)
8 Fleetwood Park Dragons (Surrey)
9 Heritage Woods Kodiaks (Port Coquitlam)
10 Belmont Bulldogs (Victoria)
(BCSSGBA Executive)
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