Walnut Grove's Nolan Premack was a heart-and-soul factor on Thursday for the walnut Grove Gators, who topped teh Heritage Woods Kodiaks to earn a return trip to the B.C. Quad A championships next month at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
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Winning the Walnut way: Grove’s Gators transition from James to Jarrett as Langley powers top Kodiaks to punch B.C. tourney tickets

LANGLEY — From Ty Rowell to James Woods to Jarrett Jacobs. Game-changing guards with a thirst for the provincial tournament don’t grow on trees, but in a place called Walnut Grove, they remain the face of one of the province’s most durable Sweet 16 B.C. tourney qualifiers.

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)
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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.

Jenna Griffin is back and healthy, and that is good news for Port Moody's Heritage Woods Kodiaks, who this week take part in the Centennial Top 10 Shoot-Out. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
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TOP 10 SHOOT-OUT 2019: Battered, bruised but buoyant, No. 7 Heritage Woods Kodiaks finding “…value in the journey”

PORT MOODY — If they wanted to, the senior girls basketball team from Port Moody’s Heritage Woods Secondary could probably start a pretty mean bonfire by just collecting all the crutches, braces and bandages they’ve used to help them limp through the first seven weeks of the high school season.Yet the same team, which counts […]

Sporting a shiner under his right eye after taking a poke during practice, Heritage Woods Kodiaks' senior point guard Gavin McMahon dishes a pass during last month's Tsumura Basketball Invitational at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2018. All Rights Reserved)
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Gavin McMahon: Double-vision can’t blur the singular focus of Heritage Woods’ gutsy senior point guard

PORT MOODY — It’s been a few years since Gavin McMahon was able to open his eyes and see the world in all of the comfortable ways he grew accustomed to as a child.

Heritage Woods' Breona Martin (left) contends with the defence of Kelowna's Rachel Hare during opening-round action at the 2018 B.C. senior girls AAA basketball championships. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca)
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02.28.18: Complete Day 1 reports from the B.C. senior girls AAA basketball championships

We’ve got reports from all eight games played in the opening round of the B.C. senior girls AAA basketball championship draw, but first a look at Friday’s championship draw:

Oak Bay's Georgia Alexander, headed to NCAA Dartmouth, has been honoured by the BCSSGBA as one of B.C.'s Top 15 high school basketball players. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca)
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From Alexander to Wisotzki: We honour B.C.’s Top 15 girls high school basketball players; along with our POY it’s a super Sweet 16!

LANGLEY — Welcome to the Sweet 16. As has become a traditional way to welcome March Madness, the B.C. Secondary Schools Girls Basketball Association, in conjunction with VarsityLetters.ca presents its annual Player of the Year and B.C. Top 15 Girls Dream Team.

What does your picture of passion for life look like? This is Hailey Counsell's. (Varsity Letters photo by Howard Tsumura)
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Hailey Counsell: Watching Heritage Woods’ UBC-bound senior star reminds us all why passion for the game carries the day

COQUITLAM — Passion for basketball can come in a magnitude of degrees, but along the trail of a long season spent wandering through gymnasiums, you don’t easily forget the ones you score as perfect 10s.

Senior guard Alex Tadic and the rest of Langley's Walnut Grove Gators top the B.C. AAA senior girls basketball top 10 for yet another week. (Varsity Letters photo by Howard Tsumura)
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01.31.18: Surrey’s Sullivan Heights Stars shoot up to No. 6 in latest B.C. AAA girls Big 10 rankings

LANGLEY — B.C.’s top five AAA girls basketball teams held their ground this past week as the road to the Langley Events Centre and the 2018 B.C. championships draw nearer. The Fraser Valley continued to field eight of the top 10 with Surrey’s Sullivan Heights Stars and the Riverside Rapids of PoCo each climbing two spots […]

G.W. Graham's Sydney Owens and the rest of her Chilliwack-based Grizzlies are the Fraser Valley's highest ranked AA girls senior varsity team, checking in at No 4 provincially this week. (Varsity Letters photo by Howard Tsumura)
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01.24.18: Gators, Titans strengthen grips on No. 1 , Kodiaks and OKM Huskies make elite climbs in B.C. girls Big 10 rankings

LANGLEY — So ably led by its trio of Tavia Rowell, Jess Wisotzki and Natalie Rathler, the Walnut Grove Gators stormed to first place at last weekend’s Top 10 Shoot-Out at Centennial Secondary, a performance which solidifies its hold on the No. 1 spot in this week’s Triple A poll.

Duchess Park Condors' Rebecca Landry (left) gives chase to Centennial Centaurs' Grace Killins during early Saturday morning action from Centennial's own Top 10 Shoot-Out in Coquitlam. (Varsity Letters photo by Howard Tsumura)
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Top 10 Shoot Out Saturday at Centennial: Varsity Letters’ live reports from the heart of Coquitlam

COQUITLAM — Welcome to the final day of the 2018 Centennial Top 10 Shoot-Out! Today we find one of the most enduring invitational sites in B.C. girls high school history in a state of flux. With construction continuing towards the ‘new’ Centennial Secondary, we’re down to one gym!