Zone 2 girls and boys capture championships
Zone 2 (Thompson-Okanagan) went a combined 8-1 between the boys’ and girls’ teams to take home both provincial zone championships in the under-14 level this past weekend at the Basketball BC Zone Championships.
The girls in red finished a perfect 4-0 on their way to a championship, galloping through their pool on Friday-Saturday and then taking both games on Sunday to earn the gold medal.
The girls opened the tournament with a win over Fraser River (Zone 4) 58-51 on Friday night, then clinched first in their pool and a bye to the semifinal with a 56-16 victory over North West (Zone 7) on Saturday morning.
In the crossover semifinal, Zone 2 jumped out to a 16-0 lead over Fraser Valley (Zone 3) and coasted to a 41-30 win.
Matched up in the final with Vancouver Coastal (Zone 5), the girls in red held on for a nine-point win, 39-28, to earn the championship.
The Zone 2 boys went 4-1 in the tournament, winning 80-21 over a Vancouver Island (Zone 6) U13 team on Friday in their opening game, then posting a 69-49 victory over Fraser River (Zone 4) before falling by four to Vancouver-Coastal (Zone 5), 62-58.
Still first in their pool, the U14 boys from the Thompson-Okanagan prevailed in the semifinal against Vancouver Island (Zone 6) U14, 60-45.
In the final, Zone 2 once again outlasted the orange from Zone 4 (Fraser River), 55-46, to bring home a dual championship for the Thompson-Okanagan.
The tournament is a precursor and will help determine seeding in the 5-on-5 portion of the basketball competition at the upcoming BC Summer Games, slated to take place July 19-22 in the Cowichan Valley.
The BC Summer Games feature amateur sporting events in Olympics style held on every even-numbered year.
For basketball, the age groups are U13 and U14. The U14 teams play traditional 5-on-5 games, while the U13 teams play 3-on-3.
The Thompson-Okanagan also finished with a gold and a bronze in the girls’ 3-on-3 tournament in Kelowna on May 19.