In the wildcard game, the Nanaimo Dover Bay Dolphins spanked the Richmond Hugh Boyd Trojans 69-48.
In the opening round: …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Langley Brookswood Bobcats defeated the 16th-seeded Prince George Kelly Road Roadrunners 87-28. “That initial ‘first seed vs 16th seed game’ can be a tough one,” Brookswood coach Scott Reeves told the Vancouver Sun. “The 16th seed often feels it’s under the gun. But I’d like to give credit to Kelly Road. They never quit and made is work right to the end.” Roadrunner coach Mike Keeling said “I thought we played hard. I have nothing but respect for that [Brookswood] team. They let us play.” Bobcats guard Tara Watts, who scored 22, said her teammates did not take anything for granted. “This is the provincials. This is what we play and practise for. I thought we came out prepared to play. Now, we just have to be ready to come out and play harder and sharper in our next game.” Reeves said “I was happy with our transition game, especially early. We need to cut down on our turnovers. But I liked the way we played.” The Roadrunners (coached by Keeling) also included Chelsea McMullen. …………………………………………………… The 3rd-seeded Kelowna Owls dumped the 14th-seed Coquitlam Gleneagle Talons 69-56 as Erin Skippon scored 26. Amonda Francis led the Talons with 30. The Talons had several players ridden with the flu and three players involved in a car accident en route to the game. None were injured though and one, Roza Aminoltejari, saw significant playing time. “The car they were in was hit from behind,” Gleneagle coach Doug Binns told the Vancouver Province. “There was a lot of damage to it, but they were able to drive… You tell them that stuff happens. It’s not what happens to you but how you react to it.” Coquitlam Gleneagle was up 29-15 early on but Kelowna inched back trailing 34-31 at halftime. The teams were still trading buckets with just over four minutes left when Kelowna star Robyn Buna completed a rare four-point play to stretch what had been a 56-53 lead for her side. Coquitlam Gleneagle never recovered. “Robyn wants to take the big shot,” said Kelowna coach Harry Parmar. “It’s a character shot and it’s a shot she should take. And it killed them.” …………………………………………………… The 15th-seeded Nanaimo Dover Bay Dolphins stunned the 2nd-seeded Surrey Fleetwood Park Dragons 40-39, as Brittany Knievel scored 13 and Tiffany Olsen 9. Grade 10 forward Keely Goertzen fed Tiffany Olsen for an uncontested lay-in with a tenth of a second remaining after neatly snaring Lauren Whyte’s desperation air-ball jumper just before it went out of bounds. “Look at that,” Olsen told the Province about her trembling hands afterwards. “I’m still shaking. I think they were already celebrating after the [Whyte] shot. I was in shock when I got the ball … oh my goodness. I just banked it in … wow.” Fleetwood Park coach Novell Thomas said the outcome wasn’t such a shocker. “There’s No. 1 with Brookswood, and after that it’s anybody’s game. There’s no clear-cut second team.” The Dragons led 38-26 at the half but the Dolphins ripped off a 12-0 run to start the second half. The Dragons (coached by Thomas, assisted by Sharon Staples) included Inku Gedecho, Harleen Sidhu, Taminder Dhaliwal, Alisa Cobb, Cathy Berar. …………………………………………………… The 7th-seeded Mission Heritage Park Highlanders defeated the 10th-seeded North Vancouver Argyle Pipers 61-50 as Jenna Ralston scored 25. Alex Vieweg led the Pipers with 25. The Pipers included Kaitlyn Burke. …………………………………………………… The 4th-seed Port Moody Blues clipped the 13th-seed Saanichton Stelly’s Stingers 64-46 as Tracy Kocs scored 21. “We didn’t have much flow today. We need to get better,” Blues coach Alex Devlin told the Vancouver Sun. …………………………………………………… The 8th-seeded Victoria Spectrum Thunder edged the 9th-seeded New Westminster Hyacks 43-40 as Chelsea Beaumont scored 17 and Kayla Morris 12. Larissa Sotto led the Hyacks with 14. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded North Vancouver Handsworth Royals defeated the 12th-seeded Maple Ridge Ramblers 54-34 and Alexis Jackson scored 16 and Leigha Letford 15. Pam Goddard led the Ramblers with 17. …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Surrey Elgin Park Orcas dumped the 11th-seeded Cranbrook Mount Baker Wild 70-48 as Britt Durieux scored 21. Jess Thielen led the Wild with 12.
In the quarterfinals, the 3rd-seeded Kelowna Owls edged the 6th-seeded South Surrey Elgin Park Orcas 58-54 as Robyn Buna scored 22, including 12 in the third quarter, and Erin Skippon 20. Carly Graham led the Orcas with 19. Brit Dureiux added 15. Pesky guard Ali Radley hit a couple of clutch three-pointers and then picked the Orcas’ pockets for a pair of steals late in the fourth quarter when the White Rock team had cut Kelowna’s lead to 52-49. She admits, though, that it’s been difficult to play without twin sister Bailey, the team’s captain and key guard, who tore her anterior cruciate ligament in December. “I feel sorry for her,” Radley told the Vancouver Province. “I know that she would want to be out there. It’s hard emotionally.” The Owls trailed Elgin Park 25-23 at halftime before outscoring them 23-12 in the third quarter. “We practise being behind a lot,” said Owls coach Harry Parmar. “We have to play better. We haven’t played our best yet. Hopefully it will be coming soon. And great teams bring that out in you.” Parmar told the Vancouver Sun that “Robyn just does it all. She plays the post, she dribbles the ball, she passes and plays defence. But the key is we have a lot of people stepping up. Tonight, Elgin Park destroyed us on the boards. But when it counted, we got the rebounds. … This is a huge year for us. Some of these girls have been playing together since elementary school. They’ve worked hard to get where they are. … Our goal is to have us cutting down the nets on Saturday.” The Orcas (coached by Stu Graham) also included Jess Franz.
The top-seeded Langley Brookswood Bobcats whipped the 8th-seeded Victoria Spectrum Thunder 73-29 as guard Tara Watt scored 22 and swingman Kelsey Horsting 21. The Bobcats led 26-9 after one quarter and were never threatened. “We didn’t shoot the ball as well against their zone we could have,” Bobcats coach Scott Reeves told the Vancouver Sun. “But any time you make it to the provincial semifinals you’ve got to be happy. I can’t complain. When you win a quarter-final by that much you’ve got to take it.” The Thunder (coached by Tim Carlson and Dan Beaumont) included Alannah Ash, Chelsea Beaumont, Kylie Bevan, Jocelyn Burton, Kate Carlson, Lisa Koronko, Stephanie Lau, Kim Magi, Kayla Morris, Winnie Tse & Jayle Wolowicz.
The 7th-seed Mission Heritage Park Highlanders dumped the 15th-seeded Nanaimo Dover Bay Orcas 47-38. The Orcas led 25-21 at the half. Alicia Kent McDonald paced the Orcas with 18. Orcas coach Tom Elwood told the Nanaimo Daily News that “ultimately, what did us in was we turned the ball over too much and we didn’t rebound it enough.” The Orcas (coached by Elwood) also included Lauren Whyte, Brittany Knievel, Nikki Tjorhom, Tiffany Olsen, Keely Goertzen, Steph Nash.
In the last quarterfinal, the 5th-seeded North Vancouver Handsworth Royals defeated the 4th-seeded Port Moody Blues 59-43. Handsworth pulled that game out with a 7-0 run in the fourth quarter. Leigha Letford the Blues with 17. Kristen Hughes added 15. Megan Pinske and Tracy Kocs each scored 11 for the Blues (coached by Alex Devlin).
In the semis, the Langley Brookswood Bobcats clipped the North Vancouver Handsworth Royals 74-38 as Kelsey Horsting scored 15, Kelsey Adrian 15 and Tara Watts 11. The Bobcats opened with a 20-2 run and romped. “Tonight, we shot the ball better than we did in the previous game and that was the difference,” Bobcats coach Scott Reeves told the Vancouver Sun. “When we shoot the ball like that, we’re hard to stop. The only thing that really surprised me a bit was that they didn’t shoot better. Perhaps it was a bit of nerves on their part. “Most of our players have been through this and I thought our experience showed. … I’m really happy with the way the team has handled [the injuries] all season. It’s probably a bit of a gamble to play the style we do with a short bench. But we talked about it and that’s how we play.” Brookswood held Royal stars Leigha Letford and Kristen Hughes to a combined 11 points.
In the other semi, the Kelowna Owls dumped the Mission Heritage Park Highlanders 90-80 as Robyn Buna scored 28 and Erin Skippon 26. The Owls trailed by 10 at the half but rallied at the free throw line. “Heart and character. That was the difference tonight,” Owls coach Harry Parmar told the Vancouver Sun. Buna hit 8-8 from the line, included 6-6 in the fourth quarter, while the Owls took their first lead at 62-61 on an Ali Radley jumper. “We could have easily folded,” said Parmar. “But we’ve been there before. There’s a lot of resilience in this team. I told them at the half we’d win.” Lindsey Gustafson led the Highlanders with 25.
In the bronze medal match, the North Vancouver Handsworth Royals whipped the Mission Heritage Park Highlanders 71-51. The Highlanders included Jenna Ralston, Lindsey Gustafson.
In the final, the top-seeded Langley Brookswood Bobcats captured their third consecutive title by stomping the 3rd-seeded Kelowna Owls 71-51. The Bobcats had won games by an average 45 ppg on the season but had no difficulty keeping their focus, coach Scott Reeves told the Vancouver Province. “They love what they do. We don’t talk about games in the past. I talk about doing what we do and doing it well. I demand perfection in practice and in games. And in games you don’t have to have perfection to the point of running up the score; that’s not the point. We might get subs in, we might try new things. I just want us to execute what we do.” The Bobcats transition offence and perimeter shooting was exceptions. They hit three treys in the first three minutes and six in the first half. Their pressure defence held the Owls without a bucket for nearly 12 minutes between the first and second quarters, leading to a 25-0 run, and the game was essentially over with the score at 42-9. “Our girls tried,” said Kelowna coach Harry Parmar. “They came out on fire and we couldn’t match what they were hitting. I don’t think people understand how good that team is. I don’t think even my girls understand. This hurts right now, but, one day, they’ll appreciate how good that team is and they’ll be proud of what we accomplished. Not right now, but one day.” Tara Watts led the Bobcats with 19. Tournament MVP Kelsey Adrian added 16 and Kelsey Horsting 14. Ali Radley and each scored 11 to pace the Owls. Reeves told the Vancouver Sun that “right through the Fraser Valley championships and here our focus has been outstanding. I demand perfection in practice and they did it all year. The only thing I really wondered about was whether this group would be able to play the demanding running style I prefer. But they stepped up and filled the holes.” Horsting said “we kind of knew it would be a bit of challenge this year, especially with all the injuries we’ve had. But we pulled through.” The Owls Hayley Heuser was chosen defensive player of the tournament.
The bronze medalist North Vancouver Handsworth Royals: Michelle Lee; Kristin Leigh; Kristen Hughes; Jane Channell; Jamie Keast; Leigha Letford; Alexis Jackson; Gen Hunter; Alex Sheppard; Jodi Young; Becky Kerr; Bri Eshleman; coach Scott Palmer
The silver medalist Kelowna Owls: Robyn Buna; Ali Radley; Bailey Radley; Hayley Heuser; Erin Skippon; Aimee Tresirra; coach Harry Parmar
The gold medalist Langley Brookswood Bobcats: Kelsey Adrian; Tara Watts; Kelsey Horsting; Tara Watts; Krysta Crofton; Mayo Aoki; Jill Whitford; coach Scott Reeves