South Delta Sun Devils' head coach Sharon Butler shares a happy moment with her team Wednesday during Round 1 of the Tsumura Basketball Invitational at the Langley Events Centre. On Wednesday night, the latest B.C. Quad-A poll showed her Sun Devils moving from unranked to No. 10 at B.C.'s highest tier, the first time in well over a decade the Tsawwassen squad has sat in a provincial Top 10. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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South Delta Sun Devils move into girls Quad-A rankings as B.C. No. 10, while Fox keeps No. 1 and Churchill surges to No. 4!

LANGLEY — The South Delta Sun Devils, unranked to open the B.C. senior girls Quad-A basketball season, were installed at No. 10 in the latest rankings released Wednesday evening.Those rankings also show Vancouver’s Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs jumping up from No. 10 to No. 4, while the Abbotsford’s Yale Lions move into the Top 10 […]

South Delta's Kaija Rutledge reacts to the physical play Wednesday against Burnaby South in TBI 2021 opening-round play at the LEC. South Delta won 92-23 behind a game-high 18 points from Rutledge. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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FINAL EDITION Tsumura Basketball 2021 Day 1 complete: Seaquam, MEI, G.W. Graham, S. Delta, Argyle, Tweedsmuir head into Thursday’s Sweet 16!

Welcome to Day 1 of the 2021 Tsumura Basketball Invitational at the Langley Events Centre.We’ve wrapped it up for the night with reports from all four opening round games, but first, here’s tomorrow’s complete schedule:TOP HALF DRAW (all games at Centre Court)QUAD A6:15 p.m. — Terry Fox vs. Lord Tweedsmuir8 p.m. — Sir Winston Churchill […]

Langley Thunderbirds' head coach Sheldon Guy can no longer see, but with the help of his family and his players, he has endured to continue in the game he loves. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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A profile in courage: Despite losing his sight in late November, Sheldon Guy comes to TBI 2021 ready to coach his Langley Thunderbirds girls basketball team!

LANGLEY — The darkness is still new to Sheldon Guy.Like nothing else he could ever imagine, it came out of nowhere and over the course of about three weeks in late November and early December, it became the thief which stole his sight.There have been some really bad days, and understandably, moments filled with dread […]

Sir Winston Churchill's Marah Dykstra brings her NCAA Div. 1-bound game to the LEC. The Bulldogs star is headed to Montana State next season. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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TBI Girls Hoops 2021: How do you re-schedule an 18-team tourney? Here’s our new draw with a Tsumura ‘message of thanks’ to all players and coaches!

LANGLEY — All teams talk about their journey.In 2021, the girls Tsumura Basketball Invitational has got a story to tell as well.From our own cancelled 2020 tournament, we re-invited the entire field to join us in ’21.A huge number of teams were able to say ‘yes’, but others, for various reasons, most heartbreakingly those with […]

Simon Fraser's Jessica Wisotzki has undergone a renaissance in her offensive game at the university level. (Photo courtesy Simon Fraser athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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Jessica Wisotzki: How the simple game of one-on-one helped show Simon Fraser’s super sophomore the way to unlock her true scoring talents!

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — Sometimes simple works best. Just ask Jessica Wisotzki.As the Simon Fraser women’s basketball teams continues preparation this week for its Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener Saturday (7 p.m.) in Bellingham against its arch rivals, the Western Washington Vikings, perhaps you have noticed a defined uptick in the sophomore guard-forward’s scoring numbers throughout […]

St. Thomas More Knights senior boys basketball coach Aaron Mitchell. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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Tip-off Wednesday: B.C. high school basketball is back, and minutes after news breaks, we catch up with six of our veteran coaches!

B.C. high school basketball coaches could barely contain their excitement Tuesday evening as they spoke with Varsity Letters just minutes after the official decision came down that B.C. high school basketball’s delayed opening was over, and that tip-off around the province would take place on Wednesday.“They have been waiting to go now for weeks,” said […]

Terry Fox point guard Cerys Merton and the Ravens, second in 2019-20, open as Quad-A's team to beat in 2021-22. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
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B.C. Girls Top 10 preseason basketball rankings: Terry Fox, R.A. McMath, Langley Christian, Credo Christian plus Fleetwood JV’s top the polls ahead of 2021-22 tip-off!

LANGLEY — A cancelled season makes the task of putting together pre-season rankings in any sport especially tough, so our thanks to everyone at the B.C. Secondary Schools Girls Basketball Association for taking a deep dive into all of the rosters to present our 2021-22 B.C. senior and juniors girls basketball Top 10 preseason rankings.Fingers […]

B.C. boys and girls high school basketball, originally set to resume on Nov. 29, has now been moved to Dec. 1 by B.C. School Sports. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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B.C. boys and girls high school basketball has its tip-off delayed by at least two days following latest BCSS ruling!

LANGLEY — If you’ve got plans to be playing in, coaching, watching or officiating a B.C. high school basketball game over the first two days of the season, you may have to cool your sneakers for a couple of days.B.C. School Sports announced late Wednesday that the start of the winter season of play has […]

We're looking for one more senior girls basketball team to play in the 10th annual Tsumura Basketball Invitational Dec. 15-18 at the Langley Events Centre. (Wilson Wong photo property of Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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Attention B.C. senior girls basketball coaches! We’re looking for one team to complete our 20-team field at the Tsumura Basketball Invitational!

LANGLEY — Greetings B.C. high school senior girls basketball head coaches!We are short one team for our 10th annual Tsumura Basketball Invitational tournament set to run Dec. 15-18 at the home of the B.C. championships: The Langley Events Centre.I have been empowered by the tournament committee of the TBI to accept the names of any […]

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Girls TBI 2021: Our Dec. 15-18 draw unveils Terry Fox, Kelowna, Riverside, Langley Christian among our headline field!

LANGLEY — Hello high school girls basketball fans!We’ve done a lot of waiting since we all last gathered at the home of B.C. high school basketball back in March of 2020.Today, precisely two weeks ahead of the official start of the 2021-22 season, it’s time to celebrate the return of our great game.And with that?From […]