While they're looking forward to easing up and getting in some R&R during the Christmas season, the Kelowna Owls and Okanagan Mission Huskies can expect their downtime to be brief.
Kelowna AAA girls basketball teams, experiencing their first demanding test of 2018, came away from the highly-regarded University of the Fraser Valley Cascades Classic in Abbotsford realizing there is work to be done when it comes to conditioning and defence.
Despite more-than-respectable performances that saw the Owls finish second and the Huskies place fourth in the 16-team event, both coaching staffs found out their team’s fitness isn’t where it should be to contend with the best in the province.
“Considering we were on the road and played two games in the afternoon before the final, the team did okay,” said said a reserved Owls’ assistant coach, Heather Semeniuk, after an 80-63 loss to the provincially No. 3-ranked Semiahmoo Totems in the tournament final on Saturday. “But we were obviously fatigued by the third quarter. Semiahmoo had more energy and spark and our defence broke down.”
Staying with the Totems through the first two quarters and trailing by just four points (39-35) at the half, the Owls were outscored 23-10 in the third quarter and now will likely be displaced from their lofty No. 1 perch in the province.
The defending B.C. School Sports AAA champions breezed through their first three games at UFV, opening with an 83-12 victory over unranked Sardis, defeating Langley Christian 86-48 and disposing of the OKM Huskies 79-56 for the right to meet Semiamhoo.
They were led by the Grade 12 dynamic duo of Kennedy Dickie and Jaeli Ibbetson in the four games, both being recognized as easy-choice tournament all-stars.
Dickie, a first-team all-star at the BCSS provincial championship tournament in March and the most valuable player in that title game, proved once again she’s more than just a big under boards. The Eastern Washington University-bound forward, who has been invited to the national women's age-group assessment camp this week in Toronto, hit five three-pointers against Semiahmoo on the way to a 26-point performance.
Also selected to the first all-star team at the provincial AAA tournament last season, Ibbetson scored 99 points in the Owls’ four games, despite playing only a few minutes in the team’s lopsided opener that afforded the KSS coaching staff to utilize its bench strength. She contributed 24 points in the final against the Totems.
Overall, KSS coaches Darren and Heather Semeniuk and Quentin Thiessen were pleased with the team’s performance on the weekend and confident of improvement moving forward.
“The team played hard and competed well,” said Heather. “These tournaments are about learning to play together as a new group and sorting out the things we need to improve.
“This a great group of young girls that loves to play and enjoy being together. And I'm sure that will lead to getting better as we play more tough games at tournaments in the new year.”
Meanwhile, OKM Huskies, competing as an AAA-division team for the first time this season, will likely move into the top 10 in the provincial rankings with their fourth-place finish at the Cascades Classic.
Going into the three-day event ranked as honourable-mentions, the Huskies upset No. 7 Abbotsford Panthers 83-78 in their first game and took down honourable-mention MEI Eagles of Abbotsford 75-45 in quarter-final play. Following the loss to KSS in their semifinal, the Huskies dropped a 69-47 decision to the South Kamloops Titans, the defending provincial AA champions, seeded No. 1 (AA) in the early 2018-19 rankings.
A young team that includes three Grade 10s, the Huskies’ performance was a pleasant surprise to head coach Meghan Faust.
“The team hadn’t played much together, so it was great to see them gel so quickly. I really loved watching their speed in the first two games and seeing their grittiness throughout the tournament,” said Faust. “The girls finished every play and never gave up. It’s something you can’t really coach. It’s already ingrained in most of them.”
Faust conceded that a shorter bench and having two tough games leading up to the matchups against KSS and South Kam revealed the Huskies’ need for improvement in conditioning.
“We definitely will need to work on getting fitter and tougher defensively, especially under the boards,” she said.
Grade 12 guard, Jenna Robinson, coming off a busy summer with the UBC Okanagdan Junior Heat, proved she could keep up with some of the best in the province, being named to the tournament’s all-star team and leading OKM in both their bronze-medal game with 15 points — all coming from beyond the three-point arc — and adding 11 points five assists and four steals against KSS.
Melaina Corrado, a Grade 11 guard, hit for 14 points against South Kam while assisting on five baskets. Grade 10, Lily Pink, a member of the B.C.'s gold-medal team at the Canadian U15 championship, scored 10 points and collected nine rebounds in the semi against the Owls.
Although the youngest team at the junior girls’ Victoria Christmas Basketball Tournament on the weekend, the Okanagan Mission Huskies won three of four games and finished fifth among the 16 teams.
Only a two-point loss to the Claremont Spartans of Victoria in quarter-final play kept the upstart Huskies from a perfect record. Made up 10 Grae 9s and a Grade 8 player, the Huskies were up against teams consisting largely of Grade 9 and 10 girls.
A 43-38 victory over the No. 5-ranked Belmont Bulldogs of Victoria on Saturday earned the young Huskies their fifth-place finish. Tatum Wade led the way for OKM with 15 points and seven rebounds while Shae Faitala contributed 12 points to the win. Kanani Coon (Grade 8) pulled down five boards and had four shot blocks.
Following the loss to Claremont — in which they led most of the way — the Huskies earned a berth in the fifth/sixth showdown with Belmont by defeating Harry Ainlay of Edmonton 40-32, led by Faitala’s 15 points. Wade and Elana Corrado both chipped in with 11 points while Coon had 10 rebounds and six blocked shots.
OKM, coached by Lisa Nevoral, and an honourable mention in the latest provincial rankings (Kelowna Owls are No. 2), opened the tournament by defeating the Tweedsmuir Panthers of Surrey 46-38. Stella LaGrange led the team in both points (18) and rebounds (10).
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