The most important road trip the UBC Thunderbirds have taken this season was to Cuba over the winter break. (Photo courtesy UBC women's basketball)
Feature University Women's Basketball

Havana hoops holiday helps harvest ‘eureka’ moments, Huband’s UBC Thunderbirds grow together in time to make late-season surge

VANCOUVER — Listen to Deb Huband talk about the ever-evolving state of the youngest team she has ever coached in her 23 seasons at the helm of the UBC Thunderbirds women’s basketball program, and one phrase — ‘eureka moments’ — stands out above all the others.

Simon Fraser women's basketball brings three explosive guards to the fore as part of its 2018 recruiting class in (left to right) Sienna Lenz, Emma Kramer and Georgia Swant. (Varsity Letters photos by Howard Tsumura)
Feature High School Girls Basketball University Women's Basketball

The power of three! How SFU’s 2018 recruits Lenz, Swant & Kramer will flip the script and re-fortify depth of Clan women’s hoops

BURNABY — College basketball is filled with unexpected contingencies, the likes of which can, in the course of one offseason, drastically change the fabric of a program. Take the Simon Fraser Clan women’s basketball team as a prime example of that.

Byrne Creek's senior guard Martin Djunga has found a family of basketball brothers at his Burnaby-Edmonds high school. (Varsity Letters photo by Howard Tsumura)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Byrne Creek Tip-Off Invitational: Djunga, No. 1 Bulldogs springboard into tourney-host role following Chancellor championship

BURNABY — For about as long as Martin Djunga can remember, he’s been surrounded by his basketball brothers, the ones he’s teammed with to help lift Burnaby’s Byrne Creek Secondary to its greatest athletic heights.

Tanis Metcalfe is averaging 26 ppg as she leads her Carson Graham Eagles into this week's Top 10 Shoot-Out tournament at Coquitlam's Centennial Secondary beginning Thursday. (Varsity Letters photo by Howard Tsumura)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Tanis Metcalfe: Carson Graham’s UBC-bound hoops star brings new-and-old school talents to Centennial Top 10 Shoot-Out tourney

NORTH VANCOUVER — It’s one thing for a high school basketball talent to surface in her senior season with a skill set on the court so varied she is able to affect the game at virtual any part of its dimensions. Yet it’s something entirely different when that surfacing reveals what is commonly referred to as […]

St. George's Saints guard Jerric Palma (right) has carried the load over his Grade 11 season and on Wednesday faces the Vancouver College Fighting Irish. (Photo courtesy Jon Hayduk/St. George's athletics)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Jerric Palma: Tipping the scales through tenacity, St. George’s plucky guard has learned to carry his weight for the Saints

VANCOUVER — In the time reserved for preparation, those quiet pre-game moments where each player is left to his own devices, Jerric Palma finds a place where he can bring his heart and mind together in a single, perfect sphere.

Oak Bay's Caelan Scott showed his vision and his athleticism over the weekend, leading Victoria's No. 1-ranked Oak Bay Bays to the Legal Beagle Invitational championship title Saturday night in PoCo. (Varsity Letters photo by Howard Tsumura)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Legal Beagle 2018: No. 1 Oak Bay’s three-headed guard combo a true power trio in title game win over Semiahmoo

PORT COQUITLAM — The Oak Bay Bays might be a darn good basketball team, but that doesn’t mean they don’t try and stick by a strict budget. And so that means when they can catch the last ferry and get back to their Victoria digs on the same night they wrap up playing at invitational tournaments […]

Kelowna's Parker Johnstone was unstoppable in the fourth quarter, scoring 30 points and leading the Owls past Abbotsford's W.J. Mouat Hawks. (Varsity Letters photo by Howard Tsumura)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

01.13.18: Legal Beagle 2018 hits Day 3, we’ve got live reports from Terry Fox Secondary in Port Coquitlam

Welcome to coverage from the third and final day of the 29th annual Legal Beagle invitational senior boys basketball tournament here in PoCo. Keep checking back here throughout the day for reports from all of the games, including our championship final between the Semiahmoo Totems and the Oak Bay Bays at 7:30 p.m.