Oak Bay Breakers top first rankings
TRIPLE-A GIRLS BASKETBALL: Team has size and experience heading into 2016-17 season
Re-invention, as it pertains to teams in the regular hunt for provincial titles in B.C. high school basketball, is normally a process that requires at least a couple of seasons of struggle before new identities are established and championship chemistry discovered.
Yet almost as quickly as head coach Rob Kinnear can say “presto,” the Oak Bay Breakers senior girls varsity program finds itself staring at an off-season of anticipation.
Heading into the recently completed 2015-16 season, Victoria’s resident powerhouse triple-A program was facing the unenviable task of having to replace one of the most dynamic point guard-post combinations in recent memory when Morgan Rosekelly headed to the Victoria Vikes and frontcourt sensation Lauren Yearwood moved on to the Oregon Ducks.
No main-rotation seniors were returning to a roster filled top to bottom with youth.
But in what was supposed to be a rebuilding season, all the Breakers did a few weeks ago was make yet another run to the Final Four and in the process, convince coaches across B.C. to select them the team to beat when the 2016-17 campaign tips off in November.
Sophie de Goede, 6-foot-1, enters her senior year as one of the province’s top players, a true point-forward whose array of skills, athleticism and work ethic make her one of the most unique team leaders in recent seasons.
Add to that a cache of size in the frontcourt, with soon-to-be Grade 11 Georgia Alexander at 6-foot-3, and rising 6-1 seniors Imogen White and Natalie Froese, and the Breakers are not only tall and tough, they have a season of starting together.
Guard play will be a factor. The measure will come in de Goede’s continued improvement in the backcourt, and the progress made by Jasmine Lambert and Fiona Headen.
The Breakers will be pushed by a strong group of four in The Province’s pre- pre-season Big 10.
Three-time defending champion Brookswood Bobcats of Langley will be without three-time B.C. MVP Aislinn Konig, the North Carolina Statebound guard, and top defensive player award winner Julia Marshall.
Still, with 6-1 forward Louise Forsyth set to enter her senior year as perhaps the most unguardable player in the province, the Bobcats sit just behind the Breakers in the poll.
Surrey’s Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers, who made a breakthrough to the Final Four this season, are No. 3 and will return no fewer than six main-rotation standouts, including rising senior Maryn Budiman, as well as deadeye shooter Shania Mander, who heads into her Grade 11 year.
The ultra-young Abbotsford Panthers check in at No. 4, yet their ceiling is so high it’s hard to say if that ranking is too low. Rising Grade 11 Sienna Lenz, a 5-foot-8 guard, is poised beyond her years. Younger sister Marin was a start his season as a Grade 8; 6-foot forward Kelsey Roufosse will only be a 10th grader and guard Sydney Fetterly an 11th grader.
Surrey’s Panorama Ridge Thunder checks in with a gaggle of talent, and leading the 10 returning seniors is 6-foot guard-forward Savannah Dhaliwal.
At No. 6, the Kelowna Owls return eight main rotation players, led by guards Taya Hanson, Courtney Donaldson and Alley Corrado.
North Vancouver’s Argyle Pipers, boosted by players from the B.C. junior champions, including MVP Georgia Swant, check in at No. 7; Coquitlam’s No. 8 Dr. Charles Best Blue Devils feature three top players (Kendal Sands, Nikki Cabuco and Jessica Wolpert); Victoria’s No. 9 Claremont Spartans lose guard Calli McMillan-Beau camp but return most of its team; and after falling to Brookswood in the B.C. final, Richmond’s R.A. McMath Wildcats are tied with Claremont for the final spot, returning a core led by rising Grade 11s Lyric Custodio and Abby Zawada.