Pipers kick off provincials on high note
GIRLS BASKETBALL: Win by North Vancouver’s Argyle squad sets up clash with top-ranked Kelowna Owls
A funny thing happened Wednesday on Georgia Swant’s way to answering about having to square off against fellow star guard Taya Hanson at the triple-A provincial girls basketball championship. Hanson wandered by. Hanson, who had scored 28 points to lead the top-seeded Kelowna Owls to an 87-51 win over the Heritage Woods Kodiaks (Port Moody) earlier in the day to tip off the B.C. tournament, smiled, offered up a “good game” and then proceeded down the hallway at the Langley Events Centre.
Swant, who had netted 28 points herself in the Argyle Pipers’ 67-62 comeback win over the Yale Lions of Abbotsford, smiled, too, and then joked about the timing with teammate Camie Ward, who had a frontrow seat for the entire episode.
With the victories, the Owls and the Pipers meet Thursday at 1:45 p.m. at the LEC in quarter-final action.
“That’s crazy. I’ve never met her before,” Swant said of Hanson, who has committed to Arizona State. “I’ve always loved watching her play. She’s so good. She does every little thing.”
In interest of full disclosure, Swant does more than her fair share of things correctly. She’s on her way to the SFU Clan next season, where she’ll join her sister Sophie, a junior forward. SFU opens the Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament Thursday in Anchorage, Alaska. They’re the No. 6 seed and begin the tournament against No. 3 Seattle Pacific.
Sophie was named Wednesday to the second GNAC all-conference team.
“I definitely look up to my sister and the way she plays. She gives it her all, all the time, which is probably why she finishes every game with four fouls,” Georgia said. “I try to play more like her and be tougher.”
Swant, Ward and the rest of the Pipers toughened up against the
“Hopefully it pays off.”
The Vancouver Island champion Oak Bay Breakers of Victoria lost their first-round matchup Wednesday, falling 85-80 to the Brookswood Bobcats, the Langley side that finished seventh in the Fraser Valley.
A three-pointer from the corner from Jenna Dick put Brookswood up 79-76 with 1:12 remaining and a driving basket from Dick with 48.4 seconds to go made it 81-78.
For more on the triple-A girls and the double-A girls tournament that’s also running at the LEC, check out bchighschoolbasketballchampionships.com.