Capping off hoop history in North Van
Capilano hosts Triple- A girls championship for 19th and final time before event moves to Langley
Wednesday represents the final steps toward the end of an era for the B. C. Triple- A Girls Basketball championship.
The 2012 provincials, which run Wednesday through Saturday, will take place at the scenic Capilano University campus in North Vancouver for the final time after a 19- year run that began in 1994.
A five- year agreement between the B. C. Secondary School Girls Basketball Association and the Langley Events Centre, which became official in October, will bring the TripleA girls basketball championships to the LEC beginning in 2013. The agreement includes an option that after five years, the parties involved can extend the deal.
BCSSGBA president Brett Westcott said the process to find a new home for the TripleA provincials began about a year ago, and despite interest from numerous other universities and facilities, such as the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre, the LEC was the only formal bid to host the tournament.
The LEC is already playing host to the B. C. junior girls basketball championships this week and will, for the second straight year, host the Triple- A boys basketball championships, March 13- 17.
“I guess as a group … we have decided that it’s time for a change, moving the tournament from a Lower Mainland facility out to the [ Fraser] Valley,” said Les Hamaguchi, coordinator of the Triple- A girls basketball provincial championships.
“I think the move will be a good one and something to build on for the future. But Capilano has been absolutely wonderful.”
The senior girl’s tournament originally moved to Capilano in 1994 after jumping from high school to high school in previous years.
It was supposed to stay at Capilano for two years, but organizers were so fond of the facility that it hosted the event right up to, and including, this year.
Next year’s tournament will set up in the LEC gymnasium, instead of the 5,200- capacity arena that holds the senior boy’s championship.
The gym holds about 2,200 spectators and is used for Trinity Western University men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball home games.
While the move is sure to garner attention at this year’s tournament, there is still the matter of determining a provincial champion.
The Riverside Rapids of Port Coquitlam go into the 16- team tournament as the No. 1 seed, thanks to a decisive 55- 42 victory over the previously No. 1- ranked Brookswood Bobcats of Langley in the Fraser Valley championship game on Feb. 25.
It’s Riverside’s first Fraser Valley championship since the school laid claim to back- toback titles in 2008 and 2009.
The Rapids open the tournament against the Kootenay region representative Mount Baker Wild of Cranbrook Wednesday ( 10: 15 a. m.). While it might be easy for favoured Riverside to look past its firstround opponent, head coach Paul Langford said his team can ill afford to do that.
“I think there is some pressure, but we just need to execute play by play and not look beyond anything other than our next play,” said Langford, now in his 12th year as Rapids coach.
“That’s what we’re trying to do the last week is talk about how every possession is really important.”