Oak Bay towers over girls’ basketball

Island tourney goes today at Claremont

Can the Breakers be broken?

That is the question being asked as the playoff process begins in girls’ high school basketball with the Triple-A Lower Island championships going today in the Claremont Secondary Gym. The third- and fourth-ranked Stelly’s Stingers and Spectrum meet at 5:45 p.m., followed by the host Spartans taking on the undefeated B.C. top-ranked Oak Bay Breakers at 7:30.

The tournament is for seeding into the Island championships Feb. 16-18 at Dover Bay.

Oak Bay is the most dominant team in several years and looks near untouchable. The Breakers are unbeaten in 24 games and have defeated the No. 2-ranked Brookswood Bobcats of Langley three times this season, including a 22-point victory in their most recent meeting.

Is there any other darkhorse out to challenge an Oak Bay lineup that includes a front wall of six-foot-two Georgia Alexander, six-foot-one forwards Sophie De Goede and Imogen White and six-foot Natalie Froese?

You need an extension ladder to shoot over them.

“We’re big but we are also athletic … we are not the traditional trees standing under the hoop,” said Oak Bay head coach Rob Kinnear.

The other teams know that all too well.

“Oak Bay is the favourite, not only on the Island, but in B.C.,” said Claremont head coach Darren Reisig. “They start four players six-foot or over, all who are athletic and talented.”

Throw in a dynamic Oak Bay backcourt that includes Bego de Santiago, a Grade 9 foreign student and Spain U-15 player coming off the bench, and this is a rolling green nightmare to face.

The most notable Breakers player is De Goede. Both her parents, Hans De Goede and Stephanie White, captained the respective men’s and women’s Canadian national rugby teams. Sophie De Goede has used those genes to optimal advantage. She is an all-rounder pursuing both U Sports basketball and the national rugby team either for the Olympics in sevens or World Cup in XVs.

The fight for No. 2 and No. 3 on the Island next week should come down to Claremont and Dover Bay.

Lauren Montgomery-Stinson and Sierra Reisig lead a tenacious Spartans team that placed second to Oak Bay in the Lower Island regular season.

“We’re young and small and we’re working hard,” said Claremont coach Reisig.

But the big story belongs to Oak Bay.

The Breakers are careful, however, not to let complacency set in.

“We have a natural underdog mentality,” said Kinnear.

“We realize it means nothing what we’ve done in the past. It’s 0-0 heading into the playoffs.”

Meanwhile, the 3A South Island boys’ tournament will be hosted by Vic High on Feb. 16-17 with the opening day featuring the No. 2 Reynolds Roadrunners against the No. 3 Mount Douglas Rams at 5:45 p.m. and the topseeded Vic High Totems facing the No. 4 Royal Bay Ravens at 7:30.

The top-three teams advance to the Island championships the following week, also at Vic High.