John Oliver Jokers' Queenie Salazar can't fight back her tears of joy after the Grade 9 guard helped South Van's John Oliver Jokers to their first B.C. senior girls basketball championship tournament berth in 27 years last week in the school's own gym. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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The Joy of John Oliver’s basketball Jokers: After 27 years, ‘perpetual underdogs’ have their day, punch tickets to B.C. Quad-A championships!

VANCOUVER — Before he can can even begin to express the joy these days that comes from being a John Oliver Joker, Pat Lee offers an apology to the curious reporter at the other end of his cel phone connection.

Fraser Valley's Deanna Tuchscherer has enjoyed a brilliant rookie debut in the Canada West. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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“…Hey, she just pulled a Dirk!” UFV’s fab frosh Tuchscherer making like a U Sports’ Nowitzki

(Due to technical difficulties encountered here at VarsityLetters.ca over the past two weeks, several stories, including this one, had not been posted here on our main site, which is now back to being fully operational as of Feb. 17, 2020. We thank you for your patience and your continued loyalty to B.C.’s most trusted source for […]

Handsworth's Aidan Chubb (left) is one half of the Royals' twin tower front court attack. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Blair.photo 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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B.C. girls championships 2020: Rick Mark, a high school hoops lifer, helps get Handsworth Royals back to The Big Dance

NORTH VANCOUVER — Absence makes a basketball coach’s heart grow fonder, and in the case of Rick Mark, you can almost hear that excited pulse the second his voice comes over the telephone wires.“I thought I was getting too old for this, but after 15 years off, here I am again,” laughed Mark, 70, as […]

Langley Christian's Lainey Shelvey drives past Nicole Torozan during third-fourth place game at TBI 2019, Saturday at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
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02.05.20 edition: Varsity Letters BC boys and girls basketball rankings

NORTH DELTA — VarsityLetters.ca is experiencing difficulties as it concerns our ability to post stories to this site.The issues are being dealt with and we ask for your patience over this time.Today, both boys and girls rankings will be added to this posting as they become available. Please continue to check back with us through […]

Kate Stewart-Barnett the cross-country harrier and steeplechaser (right) has brought so many of her running qualities to the St, Thomas More Knights' senior girls basketball team. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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“…Try to catch Kate!” At St. Thomas More, nationally-regarded middle-distance runner Stewart-Barnett gives pace to No. 3-ranked Knights basketball

BURNABY — If they ever get around to presenting an award for the best-conditioned athlete in all of B.C. high school basketball, they can throw the trophy in the back seat and take it straight over to the campus of Burnaby’s St. Thomas More Collegiate.

Port Moody's Heritage Woods Kodiaks are playing some of their best basketball of the season, as reflected by their surge in Quad-A poll points this week. They are, however, crossing their fingers that talented guard Maddie Counsell will be able to return for the season's stretch drive from a recent knee injury. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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B.C. senior girls basketball rankings 01.29.20: Marin & her Panthers new Triple-A No. 1, Heritage Woods Kodiaks see spike in Quad-A poll points

LANGLEY — Momentum was clearly on the side of the Heritage Woods Kodiaks and Abbotsford Panthers, the two teams who made the most of their time at this past week’s Timberwolves Classic invitational at Abbotsford’s Robert Bateman Secondary.

Robert Bateman guard Cally Izbicki, part of a small core of returning seniors, helps lead host Robert Bateman into the 2020 Timberwolves Classic beginning Thursday in Abbotsford. (Photo by Rick MacDonald property of Robert Bateman athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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Timberwolves Classic 2020: In a new, four-tiered girls basketball world, Bateman’s annual 16-team classic pays homage to changing times

ABBOTSFORD — Study the draw for the 2020 Timberwolves Classic tournament at Robert Bateman Secondary this weekend, and by its composition alone, you get the truest indication of where we stand two months into the first season of four-tiered senior varsity girls basketball in the province of B.C.

St. Thomas More's Bella Gaspar (left) and her Knights climbed into the No. 3 spot in the B.C. Double-A girls basketball rankings this week. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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B.C. senior girls basketball rankings 01.22.20: Semiahmoo flirts with season-long perfection atop Quad-A poll, STMC climbs 2A’s tough top four

LANGLEY — Quad-A No. 1 Semiahmoo was as visible locally as it has been all season, sweeping all foes en route to the Centennial Top 10 Shoot-Out championship tournament Saturday at Coquitlam’s Centennial Secondary.Both Quad-A and Double-A tiers issued Top 10 rankings this week:QUAD ATOP 101 Semiahmoo Totems (White Rock) (66 points) (LW-1)2 tie Kelowna […]

Britannia seniors Surpise Munie (left) and Shemaiah Abatayo have helped the East Vancouver squad reach its potential with two weeks remaining until the start of playoffs. (Photos by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letter 2020. All rights reserved)
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VGBA Langara Challenge 2020: On a three-tourney win streak, Britannia’s superstar senior duo imbues Bruins’ roster with confidence

VANCOUVER — It was back six weeks ago, at mid-December’s Tsumura Basketball Invitational, that East Vancouver’s Britannia Bruins announced themselves as a team with the wherewithal to embark on a provincial championship-title journey.On their way to knocking off ranked Quad-A powers Kelowna, Yale and Riverside before finally falling to Triple-A No. 1 Okanagan Mission in […]

In a celebratory mood, Semiahmoo Totems (left to right) Nicole Pajic, Tara Wallack, Raushan Bindra, Izzy Forsyth and Emily Wubs each react to the buzzer-beating 60-foot trey sunk by teammate Deja Lee (fourth from left). (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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Semiahmoo’s Tara Wallack and Izzy Forsyth lead No. 1 Totems to Top 10 Shoot-Out title with a dominance that harkens back to the early 2000’s

COQUITLAM — Semiahmoo’s Tara Wallack and Izzy Forsyth are setting enough of a standard these days as a high school front-court pair beyond compare that at least one rival coach found himself thinking back to the turn of the century for an apt comparison.“I coached against Kim Smith, Katja Fuess and Julia Wilson, and so […]