In the opening round, held in Fernie, the top-seeded Kelowna Christian Knights crushed the 16th-seeded Sparwood Spartans 84-25. …………………………………………………… The 9th-seeded Southridge Storm dumped the 8th-seeded Richmond Christian Eagles 73-60. …………………………………………………… The 12th-seeded Smithers Bulkley Valley Christian Royals stunned the 5th-seeded West Vancouver Mulgrave Titans 59-33. …………………………………………………… The 4th-seeded Prince George Cedars Christian Eagles dumped the 13th-seeded Ashcroft Rams 69-52. …………………………………………………… The 10th-seeded Glenlyon Norfolk Griffins stunned the 7th-seeded Fernie Falcons 56-54. The Falcons (coached by John Traverse, John Mill and Geoff Lamothe) included Jessica Yuszko, Jenna Lamothe, Amy Podrasky, Jordyn Joseph, Shauna Taylor, Angeline Kraski, Emilie Mann, Brenna Traverse, Taylor Aquila and Rita McIntyre. …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded Abbotsford Christian Knights crushed the 15th-seeded Keremeos Similkameen Sparks 73-32. …………………………………………………… The 3rd-seeded Houston Christian Wildcats whipped the 14th-seeded Rossland Royals 74-53. …………………………………………………… The 11th-seeded Valemount Timberwolves stunned the 6th-seeded Princeton Rebels 57-54.
In the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Kelowna Christian Knights crushed the 9th-seeded Southridge Storm 63-35.
The 4th-seeded Prince George Cedars Christian Eagles clubbed the 12th-seeded Smithers Bulkley Valley Christian Royals 54-40.
The 2nd-seeded Abbotsford Christian Knights defeated the 10th-seeded Glenlyon Norfolk Griffins 39-25.
In the last quarterfinal, the 3rd-seeded Houston Christian Wildcats stomped the 11th-seeded Valemount Timberwolves 85-52.
In the semis, the top-seeded Kelowna Christian Knights waxed the 4th-seeded Prince George Cedars Christian Eagles 82-47. “Kelowna had a press that we really weren’t quite mature enough to handle,” Cedars Christian coach Gerry Goertzen said. “In the second quarter of that game, we beat them 20-17 so we did figure out how to break their press, but it was too little, too late.”
In the other semi, the 2nd-seeded Abbotsford Christian Knights defeated the 3rd-seeded Houston Christian Wildcats 70-63.
In the bronze medal match, the 3rd-seeded Houston Christian Wildcats crushed the 4th-seeded Prince George Cedars Christian Eagles 76-53. “It’s fantastic because we got to see what it takes to place in the top two and those top two teams, they each had six Grade 12s on their team, and four of them were starters. That’s going to be a tough thing for us to beat with one Grade 12 and our best players are in Grade 9 and 10,” Cedars Christian coach Gerry Goertzen said. “So the future looks really good for us and it was a great experience for us to see just what it takes. Both those teams, they have a zone press that they’ve worked on for a number of years which is very effective for them so we just need more experience to be able to handle that.”
In the final, the 2nd-seeded Abbotsford Christian Knights whipped the top-seeded Kelowna Christian Knights 86-69. After one quarter of play, the No. 2-seeded Knights trailed the favourites from the Okanagan by a 22-11 count. But rather than hang their heads, the Abby Christian girls dug in their heels and reeled in Kelowna Christian. “We came out a little flat, but we just kept our heads level and didn’t freak out,” Knights captain Heidi DeWaal said. “We realized we had nothing to lose. They were the favourites coming in, and we decided we were going to leave it all on the floor in our last game.” Knights coach Brian Stelpstra instructed his girls to surrender the perimeter shot on defence in order to keep Kelowna Christian from driving into the key. They didn’t execute that plan well in the first quarter; hence, the 11-point deficit. The Knights began chipping away at the deficit in the second quarter, and trimmed Kelowna Christian’s advantage to 30-28 at the break. Abby Christian surged ahead in the third quarter, and senior forward Carissa Kampman earned her tournament MVP trophy in the fourth, beginning the final frame on a personal 13-point scoring binge that included a trio of three-pointers. Kampman finished with 18 points in the fourth quarter alone, and Abby Christian went 8-8 from the foul line in the closing minutes. “The whole speech at halftime was all about confidence,” said Stelpstra. “They needed to be confident in what they did, confident in themselves, confident in the team. From then on, you could just see in their faces that they wanted it so bad.” While Abby shot 85 per cent (16/19) in the second half, the Knights’ shooting went cold. In addition, four of the Knights starters fouled out in the final minutes — Kirsten Wiebe, Candace Tripke, Justine Marees and Jessica Marees — as Abby continued to score and play solid defense to the final buzzer. Cammi Taron led KCS in the final game loss with 26 points. “Nothing can be taken away from the effort of my girls in that game, we just did not sink the ball when we needed to,” Knights coach Rob Robinson told the Kelowna Capital News. “I am so proud of the effort and their willingness to not give up to the very last minute. Although the outcome was not what our girls wanted, the memories that were created from this season cannot be stolen from them. They created such a tight bond that even though the loss of the championship will sting for a bit, the memories of the tournament and season will be the lasting legacy of this year. I am so proud of my players and the way they played the game of basketball this year.”
Joining Carissa Campman (Abbotsford Christian) on the all-tournament team were: Via Veerman (Abby Christian), Katrina Ward (Surrey-Southridge), Karly Goertzen (Prince George-Cedars Christian), Allison Seinen (Houston Christian) and Candace Tripke (Kelowna Christian).
The bronze medalist Houston Christian Wildcats: Allison Seinen; Ruth Hamblin; coach Rusty Rogers; assistant Kelli Shepherd; assistant Candace Lunford
The silver medalist Kelowna Christian Knights: Candace Tripke; Kirsten Wiebe; Justine Marees; Jessica Marees; Cammi Taron; coach Rob Robinson
The gold medalist Abbotsford Christian Knights: Carissa Kampman; Viv Veerman; Heidi DeWaal; Gabby Kampman; Micah Cheese; Stephanie Ridder; Jenna Vos; Karli McGrail; Shayna Bruinsma; Cassidy Mulder; coach Brian Stelpstra