New tiered system aims for parity
The Lower Island senior girls’ basketball season features a new look in 2017-18 as it moves to a tiered format, similar to the senior boys, which should produce more competitive games and valuable experiences for athletes.
Tier I features nine teams, including perennial powerhouse Oak Bay, Claremont, Belmont, Parkland, St. Michaels University School, Royal Bay, Lambrick Park, Stelly’s and Pacific Christian School.
“It should be a good year. I’m excited about the new format. It seems to be working out well so far. We had at least two games in the first week that went right to the buzzer. It’s created more competition for some teams and it’s made the league exciting again,” said league commissioner and Lambrick Park coach Gary Baker.
“The problem we had last year, was a number of the triple-A schools dropped out to a B league and didn’t want to play at the top level. A number of the double-A teams were competitive enough to play up, so we finally went to a Tier I and Tier II format,” he explained.
“It’s more competitive and allows schools to rebuild to go into the Tier II league. It makes things a little more equitable and fair and what happens is teams, at the end of the season, will split off into their triple-A, double-A or single-A formats for Lower Island championships.”
The Tier II division includes St. Andrew’s, Glenlyon Norfolk School, Esquimalt, Edward Milne, Vic High, St. Margaret’s School, Spectrum, Mount Douglas and Reynolds.
Play began last week and continued again Tuesday night with a clash of the triple-A titans at Oak Bay as the Breakers played host to the Claremont Spartans.
“We want to do the best we can and, hopefully, be playing our best against the right teams at the right time,” Spartans coach Darren Reisig said of his team’s season. “The goal is to make it back to B.C.’s and do the best we can.
“Right now, winning it is very lofty, but to be in the mix is the goal and I think achievable, if December means anything.”
The Spartans just finished fourth at the Victoria Christmas tournament, losing the bronzemedal game 66-62 to Riverside of Coquitlam, allowing a lead to slip away. Earlier they had defeated Harry Ainlay of Edmonton 66-51 and downed Whistler 50-45 before losing 70-50 to the Jasper Place Rebels of Edmonton, the defending Alberta 4A champions.
Oak Bay downed Nanaimo District 80-57 before losing 62-50 to Jasper Place. The Breakers rebounded for a 72-53 win over Whistler before losing 80-43 to Alberta’s current No. 1 ranked Paul Kane Blues of St. Albert to finish sixth at the tournament.
“I’ve seen Brookswood and Riverside and Sullivan Heights and other schools that are ranked and seriously good, and I think we’re either right there or real close with a lot of them,” said Reisig. “Hopefully, we keep learning and keep getting better and get to play in some of those games that matter.”
The Spartans will also play host to the triple-A Islands Feb. 15-17, while the double-A Islands will be held at the same time at Wellington. Single-A is slated for Feb. 23-24 at GNS.
“I think the two tiers are great,” Reisig said of the new format. “There are nine teams, which is different from normal. It gives us all a chance to play around the city. I haven’t seen all the teams yet, but I heard SMUS had a good game against Royal Bay, which is said to be good. I think the change will make for some good games this year.”
Lambrick Park was in one of the tight opening league games last week, edging out Stelly’s by two.
“We’re young this year and pretty raw, but we compete,” said Baker. “It’ll be an up and down year. We have a number of Grade 10s and a lot of younger players on the team so the future is bright. There will be bumps along the way here, but we’ll be good.”