Jackson lacing up her dance shoes
In third straight trip to championships, 10th-grader is all set to showcase her best moves
No one is more at home at the Big Dance than Tayla Jackson. Of course in the parlance of her sport, that’s a direct reference to the fact that she is making a third straight trip to the B.C. senior girls Triple A basketball championships, despite the fact she is only in the 10th grade.
On Wednesday, as the B.C. senior girls Triple A basketball championships opened a four-day run at the Langley Events Centre, it was the 6-foot-2 Jackson, star post with the hometown Brookswood Bobcats, who was getting a chance to showcase her best moves, supplying her team with some much-needed post presence in a 72-51 victory over Victoria’s Claremont Spartans.
On a Bobcats team accustomed to sinking threes by the bushel, Jackson often plays a secondary offensive role to the driving and shooting skills of guards Jessie Brown and Syd Williams. But with the Bobcats never able to get the kind of half-court ball movement necessary to create those open shooting looks, the task of stepping up fell on the shoulders of the 10th grader, and Jackson was more than happy to kick up her heels.
“We don’t have as much height as we have had in the past and as the starting post, I have to get out there, play physical and rebound,” said Jackson, who despite battling a stomach bug the entire game, finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 30 effective minutes. “And there are so many good posts in the province right now.”
There is tonight’s matchup against 6-foot-1 Grade 11 Robyn AulinHaynes of North Vancouver’s Argyle Pipers, and on the same side of the draw as the Bobcats are the Fraser Valley champion Maple Ridge Ramblers and their 6-foot-3 senior standout Kolbie Orum.
On the other side of the draw? How about Lauren Yearwood from Victoria’s Oak Bay Breakers, and a host of South Kamloops Titans, including 6-foot-4 Emma Wolfram.
And while Jackson is all business on the court, off of it, she is the consummate cut-up.
In fact, at her height, she’s a big dance waiting to happen.
At Tuesday’s pre-tournament banquet, the fearless Jackson felt the beat and decided to start dancing.
“Kolbie joined in and Syd on my team, and then when they sat down I kept dancing,” said Jackson, who is a finalist to make Canada’s cadet national team. “Then the Riverside girls got up and I said ‘Bring it on, girls.’”
That’s Jackson. Somehow she always seems to find a way to dance at basketball gatherings.
Last summer in New Brunswick, while playing for Team B.C. at the Under-17 nationals, she took on the challenge of a player from Newfoundland on centre court during halftime of the national championship final.
“I danced her off the court,” Jackson chuckled of a clip that is posted on YouTube.
Brown led the Bobcats with a game-high 24 points. Claremont point guard Haley Cabral scored 17 in the loss.
The Bobcats will face the Lower Mainland champion Argyle Pipers of North Vancouver Thursday (7 p.m.) for a berth in Friday’s Final Four. The Pipers rolled to a 69-45 victory over Surrey’s Fleetwood Park Dragons, getting double-digit scoring efforts from Chelsea Dekleer (20), Claire Elliott (13) and Robin AulinHaynes (12).
North Vancouver’s Handsworth Royals were trailing Abbotsford’s MEI Eagles 12-1 but won 63-43.
“I didn’t think we were ever going to score,” said Handsworth head coach Scott Palmer. “We couldn’t hit anything, so I told the girls that if we can’t shoot, then we better stop them. In a time out, we said they had to stop playing like North Shore princesses and work hard on the boards. It made a difference. We won this game with defence.”
Handsworth held the Eagles without a point for the entire fourth quarter. MEI’s Tessa Ratzlaff had 19 points and 29 rebounds in the loss. Abby Dixon paced Handsworth with 23 points and 12 rebounds, while Elisa Homer scored a game-high 24.
On the top half of the draw, the Kelowna Owls and Oak Bay Breakers are set to meet in the first of Thursday’s four quarterfinals (3:30 p.m.). The Owls shot 32 per cent and missed 18 of 27 free throws, but still beat Abbotsford’s W.J. Mouat Hawks 75-73 after collecting 43 offensive rebounds, part of a 67-45 overall advantage on the glass.
The Breakers, Vancouver Island champs, got 22 points and 11 rebounds from 6-foot-3 Grade 10 Lauren Yearwood in a 76-48 win over the Burnaby South Rebels.
The defending champion and No. 1-ranked South Kamloops Titans opened by scoring the game’s first 27 points on its way to a 101-18 win over Cranbrook’s Mt. Baker Trojans.