Guard keys Rapid ascent in hoop rankings
Davignon’s heart and hustle make her a leader for Port Coquitlam’s Riverside
Alanya Davignon laughs when she retells the story now. It’s easy to wonder if it was always that way.
Davignon is a Grade 12 guard whose heart, hustle and chutzpah are part of why Port Coquitlam’s Riverside Rapids are No. 3 in the triple-A girls basketball provincial rankings. The Rapids are legitimate contenders for the B.C. crown, that will be awarded March 2 at Langley Events Centre.
One weekend in Grade 7, Davignon went with her family to a spring tournament in Mount Vernon, Wash., to support younger sister Venica, who was in Grade 4 at the time but playing in a Grade 5 event.
Some of Venica’s teammates got caught in border traffic and weren’t going to make the game. Paul Langford, who coaches Riverside, was at the helm of the club team at the time and asked if he could use Alanya to fill in, even though she was two years older than everyone else.
The organizer agreed, and then came to Langford after the game to say he’d be OK with Alanya playing in the remainder of the tourney. That was a not-so subtle way of saying he didn’t think Alanya was a difference-maker.
“I was not good,” the 17-year-old Davignon says now. “But everybody improves as they get older.”
She has to be among the best at getting better. She became a gym rat and studied all facets of the game.
The 5-10 Davignon was a second all-star at last year’s Fraser Valley championship after helping Riverside to a fifth-place finish. She’s committed to play next season with the Capilano University Blues.
Anthony Beyrouti, the longtime Argyle Pipers coach who was bench boss of the VK Basketball club team that Davignon played on this summer, says she might be the premier one-on-one defender in the province. Langford admits he routinely has Davignon guard the opposition’s top player.
Langford says she rebounds like a post player, regularly winning battles on the glass with bigger and stronger opponents.
She had a triple double in a Monday win over Heritage Woods, putting up 15 points to go with 11 rebounds and 11 steals in an 87-61 decision.
“I think it’s just the love of the game. I want to win for my team and my teammates, so I just put everything out there on the floor,” Davignon said. “I work at it all the time. I wanted to get better. I wanted to be the best that I can be.
“And I’ve had so many role models over the years. When I came here in Grade 9, we had Ozioma Nwabuko, who was amazing, and we had Shae Sanchez, and I idolized her. I remember thinking, ‘I really want to be like that,’ and I’ve worked to try to get there.”
A short conversation with Davignon reveals how much she appreciates what’s happened for her at Riverside, and that paying it forward really matters.
Langford backs up that analysis, saying Davignon is always the first to show a newcomer the ropes at an open gym, always the first to try to calm down a teammate when things are getting harried in a game.
One would think if you could get a bunch of that flowing through your team come provincial time it would be a powerful thing.
Riverside, led by tournament first all-star Nwabuko, finished fifth at the 2016 provincials. With Sanchez the lone Grade 12 player, the team missed out on the 2017 tournament, losing in a wild-card qualifying game. They were back in the big dance last year, finishing sixth.
“High school would have been totally different without basketball,” Davignon said. “I’d be a different person, it would have been a different experience. I’m so glad I stuck with it.”
TOTEMS GETTING HEALTHY
The Semiahmoo Totems, the top-ranked team in girls triple-A, should have 6-3 centre Faith Dut (concussion) back in the lineup this weekend for a tournament at G.W. Graham in Chilliwack, according to coach Allison McNeill.
Dut, who’s committed to the University of Florida for next season, was injured in the Centennial Top 10 ShootOut a couple of weekends ago and missed the finale, with her Surrey side netting a 77-75 win over the No. 2 Walnut Grove Gators of Langley.
Dut was cleared for competition this week and saw limited action Tuesday in a league game against Earl Marriott, according to McNeill.