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 […]

It's a battle of 10th graders Saturday at the Centennial Top 10 Shoot-Out as Langley Christian's Sydney Bradshaw (left) guards Terry Fox's Alisha Weloy. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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Centennial Top 10 Shoot-Out 2020: Double-A No. 1 Langley Christian’s Grade 10 duo of Shelvey and Bradshaw shines in win over Terry Fox

COQUITLAM — It seems there is a youth movement wherever you care to look these days in the B.C. senior girls high school basketball world.From teams comprised almost entirely of underclassmen, to those with quality smatterings of non-seniors, that was clearly the theme of this week’s 2020 Top 10 Shoot-Out at here at Centennial Secondary.And […]

Valleyview's Indigo Learie (left) drives past Claremont's Kamryn Allen on Saturday at the Top 10 Shoot-Out in Coquitlam. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
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Centennial Top 10 Shoot-Out 2020: Valleyview’s road-warrior Vikes show their pluck as Learie leads Kamloops squad past Claremont

COQUITLAM — No amount of snow was going to keep the Valleyview Vikings from their appointed rounds at the 2020 Top 10 Shoot-Out this weekend at Centennial Secondary.

Terry Fox's Alisha Weloy was one of four Ravens to hit double figures on offence in its win over Langley's Brookswood Bobcats. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
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Centennial’s Top 10 Shoot-Out: Live reports from the heart of Coquitlam on the final day of the 2020 girls hoops classic

COQUITLAM — We’re here at the nine-team Centennial Top 10 Shoot-Out tourament in Coquitlam.Stay tuned for updates on this posting throughout the afternoon.Here’s a look at what we’ve been able to see since setting foot in the gymnasium.VALLEYVIEW 74 CLAREMONT 70COQUITLAM — No amount of snow was going to keep the Valleyview Vikings from their […]

Britannia's Jewel Leeson (right) and Elana Corrado of Okanagan Mission met in the 2019 TBI finals last December. In the first rankings of 2020 both teams are among the elite in the B.C. Triple-A and Double-A rankings released Wednesday. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
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B.C. senior girls basketball rankings 01.15.20: The decade’s first Top 10s find a familiar Fab Four sitting atop the heap

LANGLEY — No. 1’s held firm across all four tiers as B.C. senior girls high school basketball issued its first Top 10 rankings of 2020. On a snow day Wednesday, here’s a look at all of the numbers:

Riverside's star Grade 11 guard Sammy Shields is guarded by Lord Tweedsmuir's Alyza Aikins during 2019 TBI action, Dec. 14 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
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Sammy Shields: A veteran at last, Riverside’s star guard leads a new core of Rapids into Centennial’s midseason Top 10 Shoot-Out showcase

PORT COQUITLAM — When you’re dropping 38 points in a senior varsity game as an eighth grader, the way Sammy Shields did back in the 2016-17 season, it seems a given that the greatest strength of the Riverside Rapids’ Grade 11 standout guard is her scoring ability.And while it’s hard to make a case that […]

Terry Fox point guard Cerys Merton and the rest of the Ravens maintained their position at No. 2 in the final B.C. Girls Quad-A poll of 2019. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
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B.C. senior girls basketball rankings 12.18.19: We ring out the year with the BCSSGBA’s final Tops 10’s of 2019!

Here are the final B.C. Secondary Schools Girls Basketball Association Top 10 rankings of 2019. Triple-A is not issuing a poll this week.Rankings will return on Jan. 8.BASKETBALLSENIOR GIRLSTOP 10QUAD A1 Semiahmoo Totems (White Rock) (66 points) (LW-1)2 Terry Fox Ravens (Port Coquitlam) (41) (2) 3 Walnut Grove Gators (Langley) (40) (3)4 Kelowna Owls (Kelowna) (38) […]