Walnut Grove's Tavia Rowell heads into the B.C. championships on Wednesday as a repeat winner of the BCSSGBA's Player of the Year award. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Walnut Grove’s Tavia Rowell: Coaches, trainers, rivals all applaud B.C.’s Player of the Year repeat winner for her passion and her integrity

LANGLEY — The first girls high school basketball story ever covered under the Varsity Letters masthead? It came on the very first day of our launch (January 31, 2017) and it was all about an amazing Grade 10 basketball player with Langley’s Walnut Grove Gators named Tavia Rowell.

Kelowna's Japleen Chahal (centre) helped the Kelowna Owls to the B.C. JV championships last season. In 2019, a new team of Owls come in with the No. 2 seed. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2018. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

B.C. Junior Girls Basketball Championships: No. 1 Terry Fox, No. 2 Kelowna top seeds as 32-team tourney draw revealed

LANGLEY — Fresh off its Fraser Valley title game win, and carrying a 31-game win streak to boot, PoCo’s Terry Fox Ravens were installed as the No. 1 seed in the 32-team B.C. junior girls bracket released Thursday evening.

Semiahmoo's Tara Wallack (left) and Brookswood's Janessa Knapp each make returns trips to the B.C. AAA championships later this month at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
The Terry Fox Ravens are all smiles after edging their crosstown rivals, the Riverside Rapids, in Tuesday's Fraser Valley JV final played in Maple Ridge. (Photo by Steve Frost property of Terry Fox athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Youthful Ravens take flight from nest to LEC! Terry Fox’s JV girls basketball team takes 31-0 record into B.C. championships

PORT COQUITLAM — If you went by the manner in which the No. 1-ranked Terry Fox Ravens junior girls basketball team has arrived this season to stake their place in the B.C. high school hoops community, what with that perfect 31-0 record, you’d be excused for looking at them like a group of youthful super-heroines […]

Stef Young (8) and the rest of Kelowna's OKM Huskies have advanced to the B.C. AAA championships next week at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Road to the LEC 2019: Despite heavy grad toll and a move to AAA, OKM’s amazing Huskies punch wild-card tickets to B.C.’s

MERRITT — It was supposed to be a re-building year, especially because the Okanagan Mission Huskies were not only replacing a talented core of seniors, but because they were moving up tier to Triple A this season.

They did it! The 2018-19 Robert Bateman Timberwolves officially became the first senior girls varsity basketball team from the school to qualify for the provincial championships. (Photo courtesy Robert Bateman athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Road to the LEC 2019: Four-year goal accomplished as Bateman tops Killarney to earn first-ever senior girls B.C. tourney berth

BURNABY — They set a goal, four years ago, of giving themselves a chance to compete for a banner as Grade 12s at the B.C. senior girls AAA basketball championships. On Wednesday, nobody had to remind Abbotsford’s Robert Bateman Timberwolves that they had indeed achieved their goal.“They are a pretty calm and cool group, but the […]

Brookswood senior guard Jenna Dick (left) helped lead her 'Cats past Handsworth and back to the B.C. senior girls AAA basketball championships. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Road to the LEC 2019: Jenna Dick dishes dimes as Brookswood tops Handsworth, Bobcats book passage back to B.C.’s

SURREY — No where was there more proof of the Fraser Valley’s depth of strength this season than the fact that Langley’s Brookswood Bobcats were playing a sudden-elimination game less than three full weeks into February.The Bobcats, however, marshalled their best qualities and more, as point guard Jenna Dick scored 15 points and dished eight […]

Abbotsford's Marin Lenz scored 35 points on Tuesday at Saanich's Stelly's Secondary as her Panthers punched B.C. tourney tickets with a win over Claremont in the wildcard round. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
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Road to the LEC 2019: Marin Lenz scores 35, Abby Panthers find way back to B.C.’s with wildcard win over Claremont

VICTORIA — It hasn’t been their normal road to the Langley Events Centre, but the Abbotsford Panthers are back on track to the home of the B.C. championships thanks to the second sudden-elimination victory of their post season.Grade 11 guard Marin Lenz poured home 35 points and the Panthers used a 33-11 run in the […]

Only a player with a love for the game like Semiahmoo's Faith Dut (top) could turn a battle for a loose ball into a such a joyous experience for all. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Semiahmoo’s Faith Dut: Growth mindset helps Totems’ senior and ex-ballerina take it step-by-step to the Big Dance and beyond

SURREY — The best place to start any kind of conversation about the seemingly limitless basketball ceiling of Faith Dut is simply to say that while she’s likely done growing in one regard, she’s just getting started in another.