Condors keep clutch on city hoops trophy
The Duchess Park Condors kept up their mid-February tradition.
The City League senior girls basketball championship trophy bears the name of their school more than any other team and the Condors hoisted the cup for the sixth straight year after a 72-25 win over the College Heights Cougars in the final Wednesday night at the Northern Sport Centre.
The Condors have dominated the City League for nearly three decades, winning the title 15 times since the inaugural year, 1990-91.
Nobody had to remind Brynn Dergousoff of her team’s success in the annual game to settle city bragging rights for the next 365 days. The Condors’ Grade 12 forward is now a four-time City League champion and was one of the primary movers and shakers Wednesday, collecting a gamehigh 22 points.
“It’s been an extraordinary experience, I started as a Grade 9 so the training through all that and watching all the girls grow, and playing with a lot of different girls, has been really cool,” said Dergousoff, who’s entertaining offers to play post-secondary ball next season at Winnipeg or Simon Fraser University.
Standing a shade more than six feet tall in her Nikes, Dergousoff and her vertical advantage gave the Cougars a persistent headache. Dergousoff hit three triples in the first half and had 14 of the Condors’ 35 points as they headed to the locker room leading by 27. That earned her a seat on the bench in the second half as coach Wade Loukes leaned on his bench players to protect their healthy lead.
“We didn’t try to run the ball a lot, our team has always been known to just run the ball and push the ball,” said Dergousoff. “We wanted to key on Isabel Fuller, she’s one of their best shooters, so she would have to pass the ball to their role players. We just kept moving the ball, that’s what we do best.”
Fuller, a City League all-star, led the Cougars with 12 points and Laura Olson turned it on in the second half, scoring all of her 10 points in the final 20 minutes. The Condors had four all-stars on the floor Wednesday, including Dergousoff, Rebecca Landry, Jasmin Schlick and Hannah Loukes.
The six-foot-three Schlick deflated the Cougars’ air attacks just by putting her arms up and her quickness pressuring the ball
City all-stars 2019 Senior girls
Rebecca Landry, Duchess Park Brynn Dergousoff, Duchess Park
Haley McCormack, D.P. Todd Jasmin Schlick, Duchess Park Isabel Fuller, College Heights Julia Kreitz, PGSS
Naomi Dugdale, Kelly Road Hannah Loukes, Duchess Park Nina Gagic, PGSS
Jenna Korolek, Kelly Road Senior boys
Cam Sale, D.P. Todd
Soren Erricson, Duchess Park Holden Black, D.P. Todd Ameer Dhillon, PGSS Jordan Foster, PGSS Connor Lewis, Duchess Park Dan Zimmerman, Duchess Park Randy Sandhu, D.P. Todd Jack Kuc, Duchess Park Harrison Faryna, Kelly Road
forced turnovers her teammates converted to points.
Landry, a UNBC Timberwolves recruit for next season, finished with 11 points, playing in her third city championship.
“A couple of their Grade 12s are good shooters and we’ve got some height on them, so we tried to make it difficult for them, force them to put the ball on the floor rather than give them open shots and that makes them work harder,” said coach Loukes. “Our girls really showed up tonight and played good defence. (Schlick) is six-foot-three and can dunk a tennis ball and she’s very active playing good perimeter defence and the other girls really helped out and did a great job. We’ve got some momentum heading into zones tomorrow.”
The Condors, ranked seventh among double-A teams in the province, went 4-0 in the City League and beat the Prince George Polars in the semifinal round last week. College Heights went 3-1 in regular-season play, then dispatched Kelly Road in the playoffs.
“At the end of the day, they’re more talented, they’re more skilled and we were hoping we could compete a little longer but they are just a better team,” said Cougars head coach Sharon Minhas.
The Cougars lost all three this season to Duchess Park but will get another crack at them in the six-team North Central double-A zone tournament which starts today at College Heights. Just one berth is available for the provincial tournament in Langley, Feb. 26 to March 2.