In the opening round, held in Vancouver: …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Prince George Duchess Park Condorettes clipped the Abbotsford Yale Lions 84-64 as point guard Carrie Wilson scored 23, Elisa Williams 14 and Jay-Anna Major 13. Condorettes coach Al Erricson told the Prince George Citizen that “I wanted a harder game opening to challenge us more. Rather than duck and run away from them, I though a quality game would be better for us.” The Lions, who finished third in the Fraser Valley zone, were a last-minute replacement for Kitimat, which declined its invitation for financial reasons. The Condorettes led 23-14, 45-26 and 72-40 at the quarters. “We knew it was going to be tough. They were ranked in the top 10 all year,” Erricson said. “That was the third-place team out of another zone and we were up on them by 30. That’s a good indication of where we are.” Condorettes forward Emily King said “it’s better this way to play a good team early. Now we know how we have to play later on.” Elisha Williams said “we came out a little slow so it forced us to pick up our game a bit. It was good to have a tough game because it got all our jitters out. We were tight at the start but now we’re in the flow, it will help us a lot.” Alana Bryce led the Lions with 19. The Lions also included Shelley Page. …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded Victoria Lambrick Park Lions stomped the Fernie Falcons 124-45 as Karly Halpenny scored 26. Sue Ann Pfeiffer paced the Falcons with 12. The Falcons (coached by John Mill) also included Liz Wilcox, Lea Ircandia, Kristy Ingram, Corrine Heibert, Rose Gentile, Jolene Johnson, Cindy Carson and Valerie Roberts. …………………………………………………… The Langley D.W. Poppy Red Hawks defeated the Vernon Kamalkala Lakettes 62-44 as Lisa Tindall scored 28. Sumner Anderson led the Lakettes with 29. …………………………………………………… The 8th-seeded Castlegar Stanley Humphries Rockettes whipped the 9th-seeded Ladysmith 49ers 76-45 as Lisa Datchkoff scored 22. Susan Glenn led the 49ers with 13. Kathleen Clarke added 11. The 49ers (coached by Dave Mack) included Jaime Lorimer, Christy Williams, Erica Christensen, Sarah Lathrop, Lisa Fairholm, Kathleen Knelson. …………………………………………………… The Kamloops Westsyde Whundas clipped the Vancouver Lord Byng Grey Ghosts 63-51 (also reported as 62-51) as Katrin Wenzel scored 24. Marilia Marghetti led the Grey Ghosts with 12. Ivana Marchenko added 12. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Vancouver Britannia Bruins clocked the 12th-seeded Vernon Clarence Fulton Maroons 67-46 as Amber Hall scored 27. Katie Fenger led the Maroons with 12. Shari Balfour added 12. The Maroons (coached by Neil Wear) also included Kim Exner, Jennifer Shannon, Cheryl Bertram, Sarah Shannon. …………………………………………………… The North Vancouver Windsor Dukes dusted the Vanderhoof Nechako Valley Viqueens 92-47 as J.R. Payne scored 20. Darcy Griffiths led the Viqueens with 17. The Viqueens also included Tanya Fyrota. …………………………………………………… The Victoria St. Michael’s University Blue Jaguars whipped the Maple Ridge Thomas Haney Thunder 60-40 as Karen Edgeil scored 20. Gaby Salazar led the Thunder with 24. The Thunder also included Kellow Brown.
In the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Prince George Duchess Park Condorettes dumped the Castlegar Stanley Humphries Rockettes 73-49 as Natasha Johnson scored 18. Lisa Datchkoff paced the Rockettes with 25. Rockettes coach Jack Closkey said told the Prince George Citizen that “they’re a great team and I can’t see anybody coming close to them. They just have too many weapons. Carrie Willson is amazing. She just rifles those no-look passes and can hit those NBA threes. We were just happy to lose by as much as we did.” The score was knotted at 22 when Datchkoff picked up her third foul. The Condorettes promptly extended the lead to 37-27 at the half and romped. The Rockettes also included Stephanie Rezansoff.
The 5th-seeded Vancouver Brittania Bruins defeated the 4th-seeded Victoria St. Michaels University Blue Jaguars 71-68 in overtime as Amber Hall scored 32. The game featured multiple lead changes, a wild assortment of plays such as a wrong-way dribble, and considerable foul trouble. The Bruins rallied from nine down in the fourth quarter to knot the score at 50 with four minutes to play. Amber Hall paced the Bruins with 33 points, 20 boards, 5 steals, 4 assists and 6 blocks. “Oh, wow, that was an unbelievable game,” Hall told the Vancouver Sun. “There was just so much emotion out there. Our team wanted to finish in the top four because we were ranked No. 5 and now we’ve done it.” Bruins coach Mike Evans added that “I have less hair now than when the game started. I thought SMU played just one great game, always battling back and so did we. We have a fabulous player in Amber Hall, but the other members of team each did what they had to, to get us this win.” Lions coach Kim Poland said “We just didn’t play the defensive game that we needed to win. I don’t have any comment on the fouls.’’ The Lions had starter Roxanne Boult in regulation and the team’s only senior, Karen Edgell, early in overtime. Britannia’s Corianne Nielsen had 14. Jo Holdsworth led SMU with 20. Karen Edgell added 14 and Tanya Boteju 13. The Blue Jaguars (coached by Kim Poland, assistant Jean Ives, manager Jen Appleton) also included Rachel Boult, Oona Ross, Claire Ezzedin, Sara Perry, Helen Lamala, Joanna Holdsworth and Deanna Age. According to Poland the Lions also included grade 9 guard Jo Nash, younger sister of Steve Nash. “I think she will be as good as her brother,” said Poland. “She just has that ball sense. She knows where to go. You can’t teach that.”
The 3rd-seeded North Vancouver Windsor Dukes dumped the Kamloops Westsyde Whundas 71-47 as Jen Walker scored 19. Whundas coach Bob Bridges told Kamloops This Week that his troops suffered a “two-quarter letdown.” Diana Schweizer led the Whundas with 16. The Whundas (coached by Bob Bridges) included Sandra Redford, Hilary Scott, Toby MacDonald, Dayna Schwietzer, Shelly Gauchar, Leah Stella.
In the last quarterfinal, the 2nd-seeded Victoria Lambrick Park Lions defeated the 8th-seeded Langley D.W. Poppy Red Hawks 76-62 as Carla Halpenny scored 32, Becky Edwards 14 and Tina Thompson 11. Jessica Banford paced D.W. Poppy with 34.
In the semis, the 3rd-seeded North Vancouver Windsor Dukes defeated the 2nd-seeded Victoria Lambrick Park Lions 55-40 as Jen Walker scored 17.
In the other semi, the top-seeded Prince George Duchess Park Condorettes defeated the 5th-seeded Vancouver Brittania Bruins 66-57 as Carrie Willson scored 21, Natasha Johnson 21 and Lisa Stewart 12. Amber Hall led the Bruins with 31. Carrie Willson told the Prince George Citizen that “when you take a player like Amber out of the game, you pretty well take the team out of the game and that was our goal. We have some pretty amazing shooters on this team and if you give us an open shot, we’ll can it.” The Condorettes led 34-25 at the half. Condorettes coach Jim Erricson said “with Hall’s ability, it’s impossible to stop her one on one, so we had to stop her as a team. Emily King had a very good defensive game blocking her out and took a lot of boards. It took Carrie a few minutes to adjust to her position fronting but after she did that adjustment, it worked very well for her.” Bruins coach Mike Evans said “we tried the zone but they were double-teaming Amber all the time and they did a tremendous job denying her the ball. Their perimeter players were taller than us and we didn’t hit the outside shots we needed.”
In the bronze medal match, the 2nd-seeded Victoria Lambrick Park Lions defeated the 5th-seeded Vancouver Brittania Bruins 58-56 as Tina Thompson scored 27 and Carli Halpenny 17. Amber Hall scored 34 to pace the Bruins (coached by Mike Evans).
In the final, the top-seeded Prince George Duchess Park Condorettes defeated the 3rd-seeded North Vancouver Windsor Dukes 67-51. Tourney MVP Carrie Willson scored 9 in the opening quarter as the Condorettes took a commanding 22-6 lead. The Condorettes led 38-14 at the half and easily breezed to the victory with Wilson scoring 24 and Elisha Williams 16 and Emily King 8. Windsor, a three-time bridesmaid, was paced by Lindsay Sidwell’s 25 points. Amy Sidwell added 15. The victory capped a 30-2 season for Duchess Park. “We believe we have good shooters and so we just went out and shot the ball,” Condorettes coach Al Erricson told the Vancouver Province. “It’s been knocking on the door for us the past two seasons so it’s great to get one and join the boys (1980 B.C. champs).” The Condorettes finished 30-2 on the campaign. Natasha Johnson told the Prince George Citizen that “we wanted to show everyone that we aren’t the Buffalo Bills and that we deserve this title. We were all there last year and we knew how it felt to lose. We never wanted to have that feeling again.” Lisa Stewart added that “we’re just so happy and proud that we won. It’s been three years and this had to be our year and we’re just going to live this to the fullest.” Dukes coach Jim Harrison said “we just got beat by a better team all around. Al Erricson-coached teams are always excellent, fundamental teams who make few mistakes and that’s what happened. It was pretty evident they wanted it much more than we did in the first quarter.” Wilson told the Prince George Free Press that “you have to go in with confidence. If you don’t think you will win, no one else will think you will either. … We stayed intense for the entire final game.”
The bronze medalist Victoria Lambrick Park Lions: Carli Halpenny; Tina Thompson; Becki Edwards; Sarah Rizzuti; Marlene Rudman; Beth Tomczyk; Ramy Gerber; Claire Hatcher; Julie Deveson; coach Rocky Vitale
The silver medalist North Vancouver Windsor Dukes: Amy Sidwell; J.R. Payne; Lindsay Sidwell; Jen Walker; coach Jim Harrison
The gold medalist Prince George Duchess Park Condorettes: Carrie Willson; Elisha Williams; Natasha Johnson; Erica Stoner; Lisa Stewart; Leah Thiessen; Shannon Blank; Emily King; Jay-Anna Major; Jennifer Wagner; Rachel Johnson; coach Al Erricson