High School

Liam McChensey (right) is off to an NCAA Div. 1 basketball career next season at Utah State. Before he gets there, however, he'd like to lead the Charles Hays Rainmakers to the B.C. Double A high school basketball title. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Talking hoops with Prince Rupert’s old-school Rainmakers! Says star McChesney: “…we have the best chemistry in the province”

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If you’re a B.C. high school boys basketball fan who slips into a nostalgic stupor upon simply hearing the name ‘Rainmakers’ then we’ve got good news for you.

They're a great eight. Yale's 2018-19 roster includes (left to right) Kyleigh Boldt, Brooklyn White, Tana Pankratz, Neelam Rai, Karishma Rai, Jessica Daley, Lily Borseth and Emmy Curtis. (Photo property of Yale Secondary athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Yale’s Pride of Lions! New head coach Bobby Braich’s five-year plan gives girls program a reason to roar

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ABBOTSFORD — Like the vast majority of his contemporaries, high school basketball coaching isn’t a paying proposition for Bobby Braich.

Last season, head coach Guy da Silva carried Saints to the B.C. junior varsity basketball title at the LEC. The latest polls have St. George's right back in the hunt at No. 3. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

01.30.19 B.C. JV boys basketball Big 10 rankings: No. 1 Burnaby South carries No. 1 into the February Frenzy!

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LANGLEY — The Burnaby South Rebels continue to hold on to the No. 1 spot in the B.C. junior varsity boys basketball rankings.

Vernon's Liam Reid (right) guards Lord Tweedsmuir's Jackson Corneil during B.C. JV quarterfinal OT classic last season at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball High School Football

Vernon’s ‘Cats in the Cradle’ growing up fast! Young, talented Panthers take No. 2 rank into Bateman’s T-Wolves Classic

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ABBOTSFORD — It’s happened precisely twice. That’s how many times over the first 73 years in which the B.C. senior boys basketball championships have been staged that a school won both senior varsity football and basketball championships in the same academic year.

Arun Atker and the North Delta Huskies get every team's best shot, and on Tuesday night at Clayton Heights Secondary, the host Nightriders were able to deliver one of 2018-19's signature upsets. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2018. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

01.30.19 Big 10 boys rankings: In topsy-turvy times, take a bow Kitsilano, Clayton Heights and Charles Hays

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LANGLEY — Looking for some plot lines to savour in the world of B.C. boys high school basketball? If so, you’ve come to the perfect place.

Abbotsford Panthers' senior Kelsey Roufosse (left) contests a shot by Kelowna's Jaeli Ibbetson during second-day action at the 2018 TBI at the Langley Evernts Centre in mid-December. This week, the Panthers and four other city teams give the eastern Fraser Valley hotbed perhaps its greatest provincial ranking representation yet. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

01.29.19 Girls Basketball Rankings: It’s Abbotsford fever! Five Top 10, HM schools in latest BC Triple-A poll

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ABBOTSFORD — The Yale Lions rise, while the W.J. Mouat Hawks and the MEI Eagles move into honourable mention territory.

Lord Tweedsmuir head coach Drew Gallacher finds his team in a battle with fellow Fraser Valley East teams W.J. Mouat, Abbotsford, and Walnut Grove. All are rated among Quad A's top 15 teams in B.C. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2018. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

01.23.19 B.C. senior boys basketball rankings: Semiahmoo, A.R. McNeill make week’s biggest climbs

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LANGLEY — The top two teams at each of B.C.’s four tiers held court for the week as the drive towards the post-season continues.

Vancouver College's Toni Maric was a tower of power as he led the Fighting Irish to victory Tuesday. (File photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Toni the Tiger! Fighting Irish senior big man Maric prowls paint, his 13 fourth-quarter points huge in Indy win over St. George’s Saints

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Toni Maric may have been in a fourth-quarter pickle, but on Tuesday, it just seemed to be a case of more pressure the better for Vancouver College’s senior big man.

Robert Bateman point guard Jayden Gill is part of a chemistry-laden senior class of Timberwolves who, as B.C.'s No. 8-ranked AAA team welcome many of the province's elite teams to its own invitational beginning Thursday. (Photo by Rick MacDonald property of Robert Bateman athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Timberwolves Classic 2019: For host, No. 8 Bateman girls, joining B.C.’s AAA elite part of a decorated four-year journey

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ABBOTSFORD — Take one look at the draw for this week’s Timberwolves Classic senior girls basketball tournament at Robert Bateman Secondary, and the natural instinct is to start counting.

Tavia Rowell of No. 2 Walnut Grove stares ahead at the challenge of Tara Wallack and the rest of the No. 1 Semiahmoo Totems. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

01.22.19 B.C. senior girls Top 10 AAA basketball rankings: Totems work hard to keep No. 1, Gators moved back to No. 2

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LANGLEY — Surrey’s No 1 Semiahmoo Totems got a real push in the championship final of Saturday’s Centennial Top 10 Shoot-Out, but managed to come away 75-71 winners over Langley’s Walnut Grove Gators.