LANGLEY — Welcome to Day 1 of the girls 2025 TBI Super 16 tournament.
Keep checking back throughout the day as we do our best to update you, our loyal Varsity Letters readers, with game reports from all eight contests.
Note that games are not arranged by tip-off time, but by their placing in each of the four quadrants.
Please scroll down to insure you have read games that may have begun prior to the ones listed here at the top.
Enjoy.
— Howard Tsumura
TOP HALF DRAW
QUAD A
ARGYLE 80 JOHNSTON HEIGHTS 57
By HOWARD TSUMURA
LANGLEY — The Argyle Pipers have so much talent throughout the Grade 11-12 spectrum within its senior girls basketball program, and thus when a team dropped out of the Select 16 pool earlier this fall, head coach Anthony Beyrouti was quick to offer up a second team from his vast roster.
And that’s why if you peruse the pages of the TBI 2025 official tournament program, you’ll notice an Argyle team in both the premier Super 16 bracket (Argyle Green) as well as the ultra-competitive Select 16 bracket (Argyle Gold).
In theory, it’s great to get your entire senior varsity program engaged with meaninful minutes available for everyone.
And to Argyle Green, full credit after having to battle against a talented, hard-working and fast-rising Johnston Heights Eagles of Surrey.
“We had 10 seniors this year, and the Grade 11s won the Grade 9 Championship two seasons ago, so we had a lot of talent coming up from both directions,” Beyrouti explained after Argyle Green came through with an 80-57 win over the Eagles. “It allows for a lot of depth. And the kids put in a ton of time, so it’s necessary to give them an opportunity to compete. And we’ve got a really dedicated coaching staff, so it’s nice to watch.”
Guard Sadie Danks and forward Isabella Miljkovic each scored a co-team high 16 points for the winners, while guard Cassidy Nugent added 15 and forward Sophie Nicholson 10 points.
Youthful Johnston Heights got a game-high 17 points from talented 6-foot-1 Grade 10 guard Puneet Deol. Fellow Grade 10 6-foot-2 forward Sofia Ogamba added 14 more while another Grade 10, guard Fajr Hanjra, added 11.
The Eagles battled hard throughout, especially in the first half, and Beyrouti appreciated their effort in the way that it brought out the best in his team.
“We want to be in shape,” he said. “We want to show off our conditioning. We’ve been lifting a lot as a team, getting stronger. Johnston Heights is a very good young team. They’re very talented and they work hard and they compete. And so it’s a good challenge for us in round one. We’ve done everything we can to make our schedule the hardest in the province this year. And this was another opportunity for us to show that we’re ready to go and compete right from the get-go and really challenge ourselves.”
Argyle advances to face the winner of tonight’s 6:15 p.m. contest between SMUS and Charles Best in Thursday’s 6:15 p.m. quarterfinal.
6:15 p.m. — SMUS (VI) VS.DR. CHARLES BEST (FN)
QUAD B
LANGLEY CHRISTIAN 77 DUCHESS PARK 53
By HOWARD TSUMURA
LANGLEY — The No. 3- and No. 4-ranked teams in the most recent B.C. senior girls Triple-A rankings meeting in the first round of the Tsumura Basketball Invitational’s Super 16 round?
The actual B.C. championship Final Four isn’t until late February, and perhaps by that time the Langley Christian Lightning and Prince George’s Duchess Park Condors will meet again… with a berth in the B.C. championship final on the line?
Whatever winds up happening down the road, it’s obvious that TBI’s Super 16 round one is not for the faint of heart. It’s big game after big game after big game, and tomorrow that’s also going to be happening on the consolation side of the draw.
The No. 3 Lightning was a 77-55 win over the No. 4 Condors, and while there was of course elation from the winning side, there was something bigger that came out of simply facing each other for respective head coaches Daneille Gardner and Reid Roberts.
“I think it’s awesome because, you know, we’re new to the tier this year,” said Gardner, whose LCS squad is making the move up from Double-A. “So for us to see…. it’s a whole different game this year for us in terms of who our competitors are. And so it’s great to see people early.”
The Lightning used a 7-0 run to end the first quarter in front 24-15, led 46-38 after three quarters, then doubled down on defence in the final frame, holding the Condors to just a pair of buckets from the field.
Zoe Bradshaw led a balanced LCS attack from the point guard position with a game-high 16 points. Shot-blocking forward Gaby Vis with 12 points, Payton Brunoro with 11 and Georgia Van Der Waarde with 10 also broke double figures for the winners.
Anja Sales and Devyn Bjorn each scored 10 points in the loss for Duchess Park.
Afterwards, Condors’ head coach Roberts was not letting the loss get in the way of the four competitive games his team is going to get over the course of the tournament.
“I’m really happy we’re in this (Super 16) bracket,” said Roberts, whose team last year put together a dominant run in the Select 16 bracket. “It doesn’t matter our win-loss record in this. We need games like that because we can compete with that team. Yeah, I know. The score didn’t look like it, but at this point in the season it’s early. Anything can happen. So we need four competitive games because we don’t get that up in Prince George right now.”
As Langley Christian moves up to Triple-A, Gardner was asked what the defining characteristic of her team this season will likely be.
“I think the depth that we have in positions, like this is probably the deepest we’ve had,” said Gardner whose program has punched well above its former Double-A tier when it comes to sending grads to U SPORTS programs. “We went 12 deep tonight, they like being around each other. You know, they’re just a family.”
Roberts had his own thoughts about LCS’ potential.
“Oh, man, they were relentless,” he said. “Like who do you key on? Well… all of them. They all run. They rebound. They’re fast. They’re aggressive. Like, that’s a great team. I would say they’re potentially the number one. They’ll be up there for sure.”
HOLY CROSS 69 OKANAGAN MISSION 39
By HOWARD TSUMURA
LANGLEY — Isla Iannuzzi never savoured it, yet she carried around the taste of defeat around all spring, summer and fall.
It was her way of rememebring what it felt like for her Holy Cross Crusaders to to lose 62-54 in the B.C. Double-A championship game final to Victoria’s SMUS Blue Jags last season.
It’s also, as she proved Wednesday in the opening round of the TBI’s Super 16 bracket, her way of making sure that feeling won’t come again when the provincials reconvene in the same Langley Events Centre complete place she stood Wednesday afternoon.
“Personally, I feel like we all felt the loss of last year right after it happened,” said Iannuzzi, who Wednesday scored a co-team high 16 points to help lead Double-A No. 1 Holy Cross to a 69-39 win over Kelowna’s Quad-A No. 10 Okanagan Mission Huskies.
“All summer, even with my club team, I always carried that, and it was always about being better than the day before. I think that’s something both I and the team have really focussed on.”
Starting five seniors as part of a deep rotation of Class of 2026 players, the Crusaders were relentless with Iannuzzi hitting five triples, and defending B.C. Defensive Player of the Year Solene Jackson affecting play at both ends with her usual fliar while also adding 19 points in the process.
Mia Guerrero added 13 more in the win. Shae Sandhu had nine for the Huskies while Maya-Lynn Ramsay had eight and Jessie Umeris six.
Remind Iannuzzi that SMUS lost in two B.C. championship finals before breaking through last season, and she speaks for both herslef and the rest of her fellow seniors who know this is their last chance to grab all the spoils.
“We have to win this,” she said of the BC’s. “It’s like our role… our destiny almost is to win this.”
As one of the Super 16’s top four seeds, the TBI title is also well within their grasp. The Crusaders road continues at 3 p.m. Wednesday when they face the Langley Christian Lightning in the quarterfinals.
“Such a great team,” said OKM head coach Meghan Faust of the Crusaders. “Just great defensively and their movement on offence, just so smooth. They’ve obviously played together for a while and I am excited to see what they can do.”
And about the Huskies?
The former TBI Super 16 winner, currently battling a number of injuries, is one of the youngest in the bracket with nine grade 11s, a Grade 10 and senior leader Sandhu.
Coming off of a start in which OKM fell behind 23-3 at the end of the first quarter, the Huskies managed to get their game back the rest of the way.
“Early days in the season, so I’m not feeling any kind of way other than excited for the potential,” said Faust, who is injecting encouragement into every offensive possession and defensive stand.
“I try really hard to make sure that I’m staying positive, find the small wins,” said Faust. “We’re going to win the bench energy. We’re going to celebrate this lay-up. We got a stop here… just continue to build off of that.”
BOTTOM HALF DRAW
QUAD C
4:30 p.m. — SEMIAHMOO (SF) VS. VERNON (TOK)
3 p.m. — RIVERSIDE (FN) VS. MARK ISFELD (VI)
QUAD D
7:45 p.m. — SA-HALI (TOK) VS. G.W. GRAHAM (EV)
SEAQUAM 100 ST. THOMAS MORE 54
By HOWARD TSUMURA
If the Seaquam Seahawks have anything you’d consider as an intangible quality, it would be their pluck.
Despite the fact they are beginning defence of their status as two-time B.C. Quad-A champs, the reality is that the North Delta squad suffered heavy graduation totals from a season ago with such noted players Neelum Sidhu, Sydney Roufosse, Mackenzie Henderson and Priya Toor all no longer a part of the program.
Add to it the fact that reigning provincial MVP Camryn Tait, the multi-skilled 6-foot-1 forward, has just now returned from a broken foot suffered in the spring, and you begin to understand how finding the same level of cohesion, chemistry and role-defining will be, for them, an ongoing process over the early days of the campaign.
Nonethless, the Seahawks recovered from a game-opening 13-2 deficit against the spirited and lightning-quick, Double-A No. 2-ranked St. Thomas More Knights to post a convincing 100-54 win in the opening game of Wednesday’s eight-game TBI Super 16 bracket here at the Langley Event Centre.
“We have a very different roster this year, so right now it’s just about getting used to playing with each other,” admitted Seahawks’ head coach Lucky Toor, whose newly-installed Quad-A No. 1-ranked team was nonetheless coming off a one-point win over No. 2 Riverside of PoCo in the finals of the Victoria Invitational on Saturday.
“We’ve got to play a little bit of a different way than we were used to before,” added Toor. “We don’t have the depth that we had the last couple of years. So having said that, we’re just finding a way to gel together. And this morning, I mean, we looked like an 8:30 a.m. team for that first quarter. It took us a moment to wake up.”
The Knights certainly were wide-awake at the opening tip.
Easily one of the smallest teams in the B.C. senior girls ranks, they brought terrific energy led by the quartet of Demicah Arnaldo (7 points), Mia Beliveau (12), Mackenzie Pagtakhan (11) and Kyla Limon (six).
“They play so hard, and we expected nothing less than that,” Toor said of STM. “I mean, their guard rotation there? They are unbelievable. I know them personally. I’ve been around them for a long time. And you know, you’re not going to outcompete them.”
Still, Seaquam’s offensive weapons remain immense.
Although Tait is still rounding into form after her extended absence due to injury, senior guard Syra Toor was as dialled in as you could be, draining seven triples and finishing with 27 points.
Fellow senior guard Callie Brost added 20, hitting four triples in the process.
Seniors Gurleen Bal and Diya Gill each added 10 while Grade 11 starter Pauline Wanjura added six points.
“It’s early, so being able to see what we can bring to the table that in terms of intangibles, I think is going to be more important than anything we need to do to put the ball in the hoop,” said St. Thomas More head coach Cassie Lauang. “I think for us defence is going to be important. And so if we can’t have the mentality we need to have for 40 minutes, then when size becomes an issue, that’s going to be the neutralizer for us. I think we lacked in speed today. We lacked a little in our dynamic steps, but at the end of the day, it’s early, and I think this is a learning opportunity for everybody. So we’re excited.”
Argyle moves on to face the winner of today’s 6:15 p.m. opener between Victoria’s SMUS Blue Jags and Coquitlam’s Dr. Charles Best Blue Devils.
If you’re reading this story or viewing these photos on any website other than one belonging to a university athletic department, it has been taken without appropriate permission. In these challenging times, true journalism will survive only through your dedicated support and loyalty. VarsityLetters.ca and all of its exclusive content has been created to serve B.C.’s high school and university sports community with hard work, integrity and respect. Feel free to drop us a line any time at howardtsumura@gmail.com.
