By Howard TsumuraVarsity LettersLANGLEY — All season long, Varsity Letters has teamed with B.C. Basketball Metrics to present an analytics-driven view of the B.C. senior boys high school basketball world.With opening tip now just one sleep away, we’ve got more to whet your appetite heading into Wednesday’s four 8:30 a.m. opening tips at the LEC: […]
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80 For 80: On the eve of the 80th B.C. senior boys tourney at LEC, an anniversary committee selects its 80 greatest players from all tiers!
By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caLANGLEY — The old grey-haired wonder is still giving us all a show, and by just about every metric you check, it’s more popular than its ever been.Today, in honour of the 80th birthday of the B.C. High School Boys Basketball Tournament, set to tip off its four-day run tomorrow morning at 8:30 […]
With its interior defence at its suffocating best, Pipers hold their own kind of class reunion! After four years of chemistry building, Argyle tops Riverside in 4A final for school’s first-ever senior girls BC title!
By HOWARD TSUMURAVarsity LettersLANGLEY — High school reunions of any magnitude aren’t supposed to happen until at least a decade after graduation.Yet on Saturday night at the Langley Event Centre, it was pretty hard to deny the fact that North Vancouver’s Argyle Pipers were going to try and sneak an extra one in about four […]
After 58 years, Vernon’s tireless Panthers ring the bell! Small but undaunted, MVP Chloe Collins and Co top Langley Christian for BC 3A title, buying in to a tireless work ethic espoused by coach Dave Tetrault!
By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caLANGLEY TOWNSHIP — Illusions are best defined as the picture we see when our brains take shortcuts to make sense of the world in real time.For just as surely as a straight stick’s image looks crooked when partially submerged in water, so too does a height-challenged basketball team seemingly grow bigger and stronger […]
Complete ‘jumbo-sized’ B.C. senior boys basketball championship draws are here! Plot the road map of your favourite schools as March Madness tips off March 4 at the LEC!
By Howard TsumuraVarsity LettersLANGLEY — The draws are now official for all four tiers of competition as the Road to March Madness has bloomed! Here are the draws — CLICK ON THE EACH TIER’S CENTRED TAG BELOW FOR A FULL-SCREEN VERSION — for the 80th (Quad-A), the 12th (Triple-A), the 38th (Double-A) and the 56th (Single-A) […]
Led by forward Solene Jackson’s 30 points, 25 rebounds, No. 1 Holy Cross stands tallest in BC Double-A title win over No. 2 STM!
NO. 1 HOLY CROSS 81 NO. 3 ST. THOMAS MORE COLLEGIATE 51By GARY KINGSTON (Special for Varsity Letters)LANGLEY – There was a moment early in the third quarter of Saturday’s Double A final of the B.C. senior girls basketball championships when the desperation and ultimate futility of St. Thomas More’s defensive challenge reached an almost […]
Thunder always led by its Parrs, but there’s even more parts to Thunder’s title run! Acwsaltca tops Cedars Christian for BC Single-A Title!
NO. 1 ACWSALCTA 78 NO. 2 CEDARS CHRISTIAN 62By GARY KINSTON (Special for Varsity Letters)LANGLEY TOWNSHIP — LANGLEY – Never mind the 12 long hours it will take, it’s finally going to be a joyous trip home to Bella Coola this weekend for the Acwsalcta Thunder senior girls basketball team.And, for their drum-pounding family members […]
A Final Four 3A finale: An imbedded defensive mindset helps Vernon top Duchess Park as Panthers return to title game for first time since 2017!
By Howard TsumuraVarsity Letters(A note from your author: Due to play-by-play broadcasting responsibilities for all four of Friday’s Final Four games at 3A and 4A, I was unable to produce this story for readers by a reasonable hour. Instead, a night’s rest allows me to present it here from a more rested state of mind. […]
B.C. Quad-A Girls Final Four Friday game 2 Riverside vs. MEI
NO. 2 RIVERSIDE 80 NO. 3 MEI 69 By DAN KINVIG (Special for Varsity Letters)Climbing Everest without oxygen.Swimming the English Channel.Crossing the Sahara on foot.All epic feats of human strength, skill and endurance.Let’s add one more to the list: Dribbling the basketball in Francesca Salonga’s general vicinity.It’s not for the faint of heart, as the MEI […]
B.C. Quad-A Girls Final Four Friday Game 1 Argyle vs. Semiahmoo
NO. 1 ARGYLE 86 NO. 5 SEMIAHMOO 61 By DAN KINVIG (Special for Varsity Letters)Over the first two rounds of the B.C. Quad-A provincial tournament, trying to stop Jaida Claypool and the Semiahmoo Thunderbirds’ high-octane offence evoked lyrics from the classic movie musical The Sound of Music.How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?How […]