KSS captures Valley title
It wasn’t the cakewalk that previous results suggested it would be, but the Kelowna (KSS) Owls still emerged as Valley champions in senior girls basketball this past weekend.
The Owls had dominated their regional rivals throughout league play, but the Pen-Hi Lakers put up a commendable fight in the final before falling 57-55 to KSS on Saturday in Salmon Arm.
With the narrow victory, Kelowna earned the only Valley berth to the 16-team provincial tournament in Langley, March 1 to 4.
The first-place and undefeated Owls — now 10-0 on the season — avoided the upset from third-place Pen-Hi, which had already staged one late rally to knock off secondplace Mount Boucherie 70-64 in their semifinal.
KSS, which routed host and fourth-place Salmon Arm 88-30 in the other semi, had beaten Pen-Hi by 49, 39 and 33 points in three prior meetings, including a 68-29 blowout in their regular-season finale at Pen-Hi on Valentine’s Day.
Saturday’s championship game was close throughout, with the Owls needing contributions from everyone to prevail.
Kennedy Dickie topped KSS with 13 points, while Dez Day scored 11 and both Alley Corrado and Kasey Patchell tallied nine.
Corrado filled up the statsheet, also recording five rebounds, seven assists and three steals to earn player-of-the-game honours. Dickie added nine rebounds and three steals.
Corrado, Dickie and KSS teammate Courtney Donaldson were all named to the first all-star team, with Day cracking the second team.
Pen-Hi’s Lindsay Carron took home the tournament MVP award and fellow Laker Hannah Clarke rounded out the first all-star team, along with Monica Curtis of Mount Boucherie.
Against Salmon Arm in the semifinals, four KSS starters reached double-digits in scoring, led by Abby Cullen with 14 points, 11 rebounds and two steals. Corrado had 12 points and eight assists, while Dickie and Day both added 11 points. Dickie was named player of the game.
Owls edge Pen-Hi Lakers 57-55 in championship game