Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers' rising senior guard Alyza Aikins will lead her team into the 2020 Tsumura Basketball Invitational this December at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Twenty teams for TBI 2020! Our roster for the annual senior girls Tsumura Basketball Invitational features B.C.’s best of the best!

LANGLEY — Our collective fingers are crossed with the hope that a safe fall and winter season is on the horizon for high school sports in the province of B.C.

And in the spirit of that positivity, we hope that one of the final highlights of a challenging 2020 calendar year will be the latest edition of the annual senior girls Tsumura Basketball Invitational.

This coming season’s field is as deep, talented and tradition-laden as we’ve ever featured with the entire field of Top 10-finishers from this past March’s B.C. Quad-A  championship tournament set to take part, including the two-time reigning champion Semiahmoo Totems of Surrey, making their first TBI appearance since 2017 when the current group of rising seniors were early in their Grade 9 seasons.

That season, the Totems punched their ticket to TBI’s Final Four before falling one game shy of a title-game berth against Abbotsford, falling 96-78 to Walnut Grove in the semifinals.

Okanagan Mission’s Lily Pink, the reigning 2019 TBI tourney MVP, leads her Huskies into the 2020 event Dec. 16-19 at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)

As well, we’ve got seven of the top-nine finishers from the 2019-20 B.C. Triple-A championships, including the champion Abbotsford Panthers, and the runner-up Okanagan Mission Huskies of Kelowna, the overall 2019 TBI champs.

Our two Double-A entrants, Langley Christian and Vancouver’s York House, finished second and third respectively at their B.C. championship tourney.

Here’s the 20 teams which will take part in the four-day TBI 2020 tournament at the Langley Events Centre from Dec. 16-19.

TSUMURA BASKETBALL INVITATIONAL 2020

(Participating teams listed in alphabetical order with last season’s B.C. finish and tier)

Abbotsford Panthers (1st, AAA)

Argyle Pipers (North Vancouver) (3rd, AAA)

Brookswood Bobcats (Langley) (did not qualify, AAAA)

Burnaby South Rebels (9th, AAAA)

Earl Marriott Mariners (Surrey) (10th, AAAA)

G.W. Graham Grizzlies (Chilliwack) (9th, AAA)

Heritage Woods Kodiaks (Port Moody) (8th, AAAA)

Kelowna Owls (6th, AAAA)

Langley Christian Lightning (2nd, AA) 

Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers (Surrey) (7th, AAAA)

MEI Eagles (Abbotsford) (6th, AAA) 

Okanagan Mission Huskies (Kelowna) (2nd, AAA)

R.A. McMath Wildcats (Richmond) (4th, AAA)

Riverside Rapids (Port Coquitlam) (5th, AAAA)

Semiahmoo Totems (Surrey) (1st, AAAA)

Terry Fox Ravens (Port Coquitlam) (2nd, AAAA)

Valleyview Vikings (Kamloops) (7th, AAA)

Walnut Grove Gators (Langley) (4th, AAAA)

Yale Lions (Abbotsford) (3rd, AAAA)

York House Tigers (Vancouver) (3rd, AA)

Celebrating a semifinal win at the B.C. Quad-A championships last March at the LEC. are Terry Fox Ravens rising Grade 11s (left to right) Hannah Rao, Alisha Weloy and Taylor Matthews. The trio all return this December for TBI 2020. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)

Closer to tournament time we will release the TBI 2020 girls draw. Entering our second season as a 20-team event, a total of eight teams will comprise an opening-round of four games. Those Day 1 winners will join the remaining 12 teams in our Thursday Sweet 16.

Yet based on the overall strength of the field, coaches from around the province know they will be getting potentially the best games this side of zone championships and the provincial tournament throughout their entire run at TBI 2020.

We will be following with the TBI boys line-up as soon as it is confirmed.

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.

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