Trinity Western freshman guard Shemaiah Abatayo was forced to hit the court running this season after six straight months of COVID lockdown in the Philippines kept her out of B.C. from March through August. (Photo by Mark Janzen property of Trinity Western athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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Shemaiah Abatayo: As Trinity Western’s ‘rookie’ guard preps for a hopeful 2021-22 re-start, she dishes on six months of COVID-forced lockdown in the Philippines!

LANGLEY — Shemaiah Abatayo, like the rest of Canada’s hard-luck Class of 2020 university freshmen recruits, will get a second chance to make a rookie impression when U Sports basketball courts flash their figurative green lights this coming fall.Nothing could have beaten the on-court experience that a 2020-21 Canada West season would have provided Abatayo […]

STA's Gemma Cutler (left) is opposed by Britannia's Tiana Sacco during B.C. 2A Final Four clash Friday at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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BC 2A Final Four: With equal parts hearts, and help-side defence, Britannia’s Bruins hold off STA for first finals appearance since 2012

LANGLEY — No deficit seems too dire if you’re East Vancouver’s Britannia Bruins.The No. 2 seeds here at the B.C. senior girls Double A basketball championships may have been secretly sweating the details of the 14-point deficit they were facing just seconds into the second half against the No. 6 St. Thomas Aquinas Fighting Saints […]

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 […]

TBI MVP Lily Pink (rear, left) and late-game heroine Makenna Jacklin (rear, right) celebrate along with the rest of their Okanagan Mission teammates following championship win over Britannia at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
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A SUNDAY READ: Okanagan Mission tops Britannia as a most illuminating TBI 2019 sheds new light on the state of B.C. girls high school hoops

LANGLEY — For the first few days of the 2019 Tsumura Basketball Invitational, Makenna Jacklin did a really good job of convincing herself that she’d lost her jump shooting mojo.

No one at Tsumura Basketball 2019 has been able to keep Britannia's Surprise Munie under wraps, including Kelowna's Paris Kirk (left) and Rylee Semeniuk. Britannia rode a huge scoring performance from Munie to a win and a berth in Saturday's championship final against the Okanagan Mission Huskies. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
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TBI 2019 Final Four: In a zone of their own, Surprise and the Cinderella Britannia Bruins top Kelowna Owls for title-game berth

LANGLEY — It’s wrong to say that the Britannia Bruins were considered a long shot heading into the 2019 Tsumura Basketball Invitational.Yet hands up if you had the East Vancouver Double-A underdogs knocking off, in order, Quad-A No. 6 Riverside, Quad-A No. 7 Yale, and Quad-A No. 8 Kelowna?Of course you did. We all did.Hardly.Yet […]

Surprise Munie was as prolific as ever on the offensive end, but the Brit star had a shout out for the Bruins' defence in its Elite 8 TBI win over the Yale Lions. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
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TBI 2019 Elite 8: Britannia’s Double-A Bruins show a depth of versatility, adaptability in taming Yale’s Quad-A Lions

LANGLEY — They aren’t as recognized as their fellow senior Bruins Surprise Munie and Shemaiah Abatayo, yet you could almost say that Britannia’s emerging frontcourt duo of Tiana Sacco and Lagi Vaa hold a big key to the ultimate versatility and fortunes of East Vancouver’s finest.

St. Thomas More's Bella Gaspar (left) gets off a shot while defended by Brookswood's Quinn Jasper during Sweet 16 round of 2019 TBI on Thursday at the LEC. (Photo by Larry Lawson property of Portland State athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved) (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
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FINAL EDITION: Utter madness hits TBI 2019 Sweet 16! Three Double-A schools crash Friday’s Elite 8 quarterfinals

LANGLEY —What a Thursday of upsets here at TBI.The Sweet 16 for 2019 will be remembered for the way that Double A teams sent the bracket into disarray.Hands up if you had Double A’s Langley Christian, Britannia and St. Thomas More knocking off, respectively, Quad A’s Terry Fox, Riverside and Brookswood?Utter madness!We’ve got all eight […]

How sweet it is for the G.W. Graham Grizzlies, who on Friday night came together to celebrate the program's first-ever trip to a B.C. senior girls varsity basketball championship final. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca)
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Grizzlies make history: G.W. Graham senior girls top Britannia in AA Final Four, set to play in first-ever B.C. varsity final

LANGLEY — There was a season of unprecedented growth within her roster, and as the calendar turned to a new year, there seemed to be hints everywhere that great things were possible.

Britannia's Surprise Munie (centre) and fellow Grade 10 guard Shemaiah Abatayo were a bog load for Emilia Durfeld (left) and the rest of the Vernon Panthers on Thursday in Elite 8 AA action at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca)
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B.C. AA senior girls B.C. Final Four now set! How the Bruins, Grizz, Titans and Saints punched March dance cards

Here’s our look at all four games played Thursday in the Elite 8 quarterfinal round at the B.C. senior girls Double A basketball championships.