Heritage Woods' Maddy Counsell (left) wins a loose ball as she hits the deck along with South Kam's Kendra Kaczur during Saturday action at the 2019 Top 10 Shoot-Out at Coquitlam's Centennial Secondary. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Centennial’s Top 10 Shoot-Out 2019: Live reports from Super Saturday’s placing games

COQUITLAM — We’re here at Centennial Secondary’s 2019 Top 10 Shoot-Out. 

Keep checking back on this posting for updates throughout the day from placing games leading up to today’s championship final (5:45 p.m.) between AAA powers Semiahmoo and Walnut Grove.

PLACING GAMES

With Brookswood’s Carolina Sanchez (left) and Stefanie Robb putting on the squeeze, Riverside’s Alanya Davignon finds herself in a battle during the Top 10 Shoot-Out’s third-place final Saturday in Coquitlam. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)

No. 2 AAA RIVERSIDE 86 vs. No. 4 AAA BROOKSWOOD 84 (OT)

The Riverside Rapids couldn’t wait.

Trailing to the Brookswood Bobcats 61-50 heading into the fourth quarter in the Top 10’s third-place game, they pulled out their secret weapon: A full-court pressure scheme that hit the young ‘Cats like a ton of bricks.

“That (press) was the ace in our back pockets that we were saving for provincials,” laughed Riverside co-coach Jeremy Neufeld after his team rallied from their 11-point pickle to beat Brookswood 86-84 in overtime.

“But but we’re too competitive,” continued Neufeld, whose charges went on a 17-4 run fuelled by that turnover-yielding scheme. “Our girls are very long and it ended up working in our favour.”

Brookswood head coach Chris Veale loved the heart of his young team, which was playing without the services of its injured senior guard and team leader Jenna Dick.

Yet once the pressure came, it was clear that a team filled with Grade 10 talent was rattled.

“We struggled with it, that was pretty obvious,” said Veale. “It’s the first time we have been pressed this season, where people are really coming at us and trapping.”

Tessa Burton started the run with a three-pointer, and Sammy Shields capped it with a steal, lay-in and an and-one finish. Gutsy Brookswood got a lay-in from Stefanie Robb and a short runner by Neyha Lali to force the extra period.

In overtime, the Rapids kept their momentum, Burton’s triple making it 80-78.

Adrienne Willems cashed in a carom down low for an 84-78 lead with just under a minute remaining.

A Lali lay-up at the other end made it close at 84-80 and Quinn Jasper further helped the Brookswood cause with one of her own in the final 30 seconds to make it 85-82.

Bobcats’ post Carson Look later scored on the block with seven seconds remaining to pull her team to within the eventual final score of 86-84.

Neufeld said the Rapids had nothing but respect for Brookswood, which has made a huge surge towards reaching its potential since mid-December.

“Every time we play Brookswood, it’s unreal,” Neufeld said. “We’ve gone to overtime twice this year, and we went to overtime twice last year. Even without Jenna, their team really picked it up. No. 12 (Lali) was on fire. We couldn’t stop her runner in the middle.”

Lali was indeed nearly unstoppable, scoring a game-high 34 points. Jenessa Knapp scored 18 points and Quinn Jasper a dozen.

Shields led the Rapids with 29 points, Jessica Parker added 24 and Burton added 19. Her last four buckets from the field were all three-pointers. Willems added 14.

Kennedy Dickie scored 22 points on Saturday for her Kelowna Owls in a win over Abbotsford, but the senior star says defence is the key if her team is going to repeat as B.C. champions come March. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)

5th-6th

No. 5 AAA KELOWNA 70 ABBOTSFORD 57

Ask Kennedy Dickie what it’s going to take for the Kelowna Owls to repeat as B.C. Triple A champions, and all the 6-foot senior has to do is reference the inscription on her favourite piece of jewellery.

“On our (championship) rings, we did ‘Defence Wins Championships,’” said Dickie, the Eastern Washington-bound star, referencing her Owls’ title-game win over Walnut Grove in the provincial final last March. “That is a really big thing for us, so we’re just working hard on our defence in practice, always getting up on players.”

On Saturday, the Owls didn’t have an answer for Abbotsford’s Marin Lenz, but they did for the rest of the Panthers, fashioning a top-five finish at the 2019 Top 10 Shoot-Out on the heels of a 70-57 victory.

Lenz, the unflappable Grade 11 guard, finished with a game-high 33 points, 19 of which came in the first half. Lenz finished the day by hitting seven treys.

Leading 51-46 after three quarters, an Owls team led by Dickie and fellow senior Jaeli Ibbetson seized control of the contest in the fourth, helping fuel an 11-4 run to build a 62-50 lead en route to victory.

Ibbetson scored a team-high 23 points, while Dickie followed with a further 22. Jordan Kemper added 10 more in the win.

Lindsey Roufosse added nine for Abbotsford, while Beryl Kithinji added eight.

“We’re just working hard, trying to get up into the top four for provincials, and seeing how that goes,” said Dickie.

South Kamloops’ Olivia Morgan-Cherchas (right) impedes the low-post progress of Heritage Woods’ Emily Instant on Saturday in Coquitlam. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)

7th-8th

No. 2 AA SOUTH KAMLOOPS 41 vs. No. 7 AAA HERITAGE WOODS 65

Port Moody’s Heritage Woods Kodiaks saw a ray of sun at the end of a tough week at Top 10, coming together with a roster that most closely resembled its full team.

The result?

An opening quarter in which the Kodiaks shot the basketball at the top of their form.

“We absolutely shot it well,” agreed Heritage Woods head coach Ross Tomlinson. “It was a bunch of kids who showed up the last day after exams. I thought we were very focused. Exam times are distractions and there are tons of teams going through the same thing.

“I thought we executed very well,” continued Tomlinson, whose team bolted out to a 19-7 game-opening lead and never looked back. “We passed the ball extremely well and shared it. They took shots and hit shots and you can’t ask for anything more.”

Guard Jenna Griffin hit three of the Kodiaks’ seven treys on the game and finished with a game-high 21 points.

Post Emily Instant added 10 points, while forward Breona Martin added nine.

South Kamloops’ post Olivia Morgan-Cherchas led her team with 18 points, while Fiona Brisco added nine.

The Titans played without standout guard and reigning B.C. AA MVP Maddy Gobeil.

9th-10th

CENTENNIAL 60 vs. LORD TWEEDSMUIR 58

The host Centaurs closed with one of their strongest quarters of the week to top Surrey’s Panthers.

Dahlia Parolin, Kate Bennett and Grace Killins combined to score 17 of Centennial’s 19 fourth-quarter points.

That, in concert with a Centaurs’ defence which allowed just nine Tweedsmuir points over the final 10 minutes of play, paved the way to a narrow two-point win.

Killins led the way with a game-high-tying 21 points, while Bennett finished with 16 and Parolin 11.

For Lord Tweedsmuir, India Aikins also scored 21 points, while Alyza Aikins scored 11 points.

11th-12th

No. 9 AA VALLEYVIEW 51 vs. HANDSWORTH 49

Kamloops’ youthful Vikes jumped out to a 16-4 game-opening lead then hunkered down to hold off forward Julia Strigl and the rest of North Vancouver’s Royals.

Strigl, the 6-foot senior, scored 21 of her game-high 30 points over the second half as the Royals drew even at 42-42 down the fourth-quarter stretch before faltering late.

McKenna Reeves led Valleyview with 15 points while Rebekah Schmutz, a fellow 10th grader, added 10 points. Indigo Learie added nine and Jessica Orr eight.

Michelle Sue scored seven points, while Samantha Mark scored six for the Royals.

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