FLYING HIGH
Junior girls’ team earns top-8 seed for upcoming provincials
The Pen-Hi Lakers rolled to three straight victories at a qualifying tournament on the weekend to earn a top-8 seed for this year’s provincial junior girls’ basketball championship.
At Mennonite Educational Institute (MEI) in Abbotsford on the weekend, the Lakers beat Windsor, the host MEI Eagles and Whistler to improve their overall record on the season to 16-2.
“With a top-8 seed guaranteed for the provincials, it takes all the pressure off,” said Lakers co-coach Chris Terris. “We can focus on fine-tuning our systems and individual skills moving forward.”
The provincials — set for March 1-4 in Langley — have been expanded to 24 teams for 2017. That includes 16 berths through the traditional zone distribution, and eight additional berths to the winners of the provincial qualifying tourneys.
Teams can participate in a maximum of two of the qualifying tourneys. Seeding for these tourneys is done by a provincial committee.
In the opening game at MEI, Kali Loewen nabbed 13 points, six rebounds and four steals as Pen-Hi beat North Vancouver school Windsor 54-21. Olivio Devito (10 points, five assists), Mckenna Clarke (7 points) and Jennifer Hayman (6 points) were other key producers.
Loewen had 11 points and four boards and Hayman notched 15 rebounds to go with five points as Pen-Hi beat MEI 36-25. Doell logged seven points and four steals.
Loewen had 13 points, 10 rebounds and three steals, Hayman 11 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks, Doell 10 points and four steals and Devito eight points and two assists as the Lakers beat Whistler 48-38 in a battle of the top two tourney seeds.
“Whistler lost in the final of the provincial qualifier at Riverside the weekend before, so we knew that they were going to be a handful. They were long and athletic, and well-coached by former national team player, Alan Kristmanson,” said Terris. “Russ (co-coach Reid) has been working hard in practice on our transition defence. The girls responded really well. We gave up very few easy buckets and forced teams to beat us in the half court.”
On Monday, the first provincial rankings came out for junior girls’ basketball and the Lakers found themselves nicely positioned at No. 3.
Kelowna (10-1 overall) is No. 1, St. Thomas Aquinas No. 2, and Whistler is No. 4.
South Kamloops is No. 15 and Okanagan Mission earned an honourable mention.