No. 1 BROOKSWOOD 73 vs No. 5 REYNOLDS 51
By Dan Kinvig (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY — When a team has one lights-out perimeter shooter, it’s a nuisance for the opposition.
If they have two? It’s a problem.
Any more than that? It’s a five-alarm fire, nearly impossible to extinguish.
Case in point? The Brookswood Bobcats’ team-wide flame-throwing exhibition in Friday afternoon’s 73-51 victory over the Reynolds Roadrunners in the provincial 3A semifinals.
Take a closer look at the second quarter, in isolation. The Bobcats dominated the frame, outscoring the Roadrunners 25-12. They made eight field goals during that stretch. Seven of them were three-pointers, from five different players.
Zooming out for a wider-angle view, Brookswood finished the game with more triples (14) than two-point buckets (13), and a total of seven Bobcats connected from beyond the arc.
That type of red-hot shooting depth inevitably tears defences apart at the seams, and that was the story Friday as the youthful Langley squad punched its ticket to the B.C. final.
Afterward, head coach Chrissy Nohr reflected on the sweat equity her players had invested to create moments like this. Knowing teams would funnel their defensive energy into slowing Grade 9 phenom point guard Jordyn Nohr, the Bobcats were determined to make that approach obsolete and hoisted untold thousands of jump shots with that vision in mind.
“We train pretty hard,” Coach Nohr said with a smile. “Lots of girls are in early in the morning, shooting extra shots.
“We’ve really focused on skills this year, so (opposing teams) can’t just take away one kid on our team. It’s just not going to work anymore. Everyone’s contributing, and we’re really hard to stop now.
“If they want to double- or triple-team Jordyn, then let’s make them pay. The girls on our team have taken that quite personally, like, ‘We’re going to get better, and we’re going to be able to score, too.’ They’ve done a great job this year.”
Jordyn Nohr, it should be noted, is still the straw that stirs the drink for the Bobcats – on Friday, she posted game-high totals for points (22), assists (4), steals (3) and plus-minus (+40).
Her teammates rose to the occasion, too, as the No. 1-seeded Bobcats reeled off an early 15-0 run to seize control of the game, and pulled away for good as the entire squad seemed to catch fire in the aforementioned second quarter.
Brookswood’s lead was 45-18 at the half, and they led by as many as 37 en route to victory.
Grade 11 forward Hazel Phillips posted a double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds), and was one of four Bobcats to drain multiple treys, along with Nohr, Bryn Symons and Carly Taylor.
Forwards Saige Parfitt (17 points) and Bella Graves (16 points) responded offensively for the No. 5 Roadrunners, and Graves added a game-high 15 rebounds.
The hometown Bobcats await the winner of Friday’s late semifinal between St. Michaels University School and South Kamloops. Saturday’s 3A championship game tips off at 6:15 p.m. on Centre Court at the Langley Events Centre.
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