It will be the Pacific Christian Pacers (Victoria) against the Unity Christian Flames (Chilliwack in the 1A final, the Mulgrave Titans (West Vancouver) and the Langley Christian Lightning (Langley) in the 2A final, the Brookswood Bobcats (Langley) and the St. Michaels University School Blue Jags (Victoria) in the 3A final and the Riverside Rapids (Port Coquitlam) and the Seaquam Seahawks (Delta) in the 4A final.
The four championship final matchups are now set after the semi-final round at the BC
School Sports Girls Basketball Provincial Championships.
The first of the finals – in the 1A tier – tips off at 1:45pm with all four championship finals
scheduled to be played on Centre Court at Langley Events Centre.
1A Tournament
It will be a battle of the top two seeds for the BC School Sports 1A Girls Basketball Provincial Championships. The top-ranked Pacific Christian Pacers used a huge second-half rally to knock off the fifth-seed Sir Alexander Mackenzie Grizzlies while their championship opponent will be the No. 2 Unity Christian Flames, who exacted a measure of revenge in taking down the No. 3 seed (and defending champion) Credo Christian Kodiaks 49-37.
After the Grizzlies went up 13 early in the third, the Pacers went on a 14-0 run to get right back in the game. And with the score tied at 56 in the final quarter, it would be Pacific Christian rattling off another 12 unanswered points to book their spot in the championship final. Kealayna Tupas-Singh’s 29 points and Abi Ellison’s 27 led the Pacers. Ellison’s total
included four three-pointers. The Grizzlies were led by the trio of Ayanna Parr (25 points), Annika Parr (17) and Kashlyn Mack (16).
Pacific Christian’s opponent will be Unity Christian as the Flames clamped down defensively in the fourth quarter to defeat Credo Christian 49-37. The Kodiaks opened the final quarter with a basket, cutting the lead to one, but the Flames would not allow another point until after they scored 13 of their own to win by a dozen. Miah Schuurman’s 30 points were tops for the Flames. Demi Timmerman’s 16 points and Alexa Leyenhorst’s 13 led Credo Christian. The two teams will tip off for the gold medal on Saturday (March 1) at 1:45p.m.
2A Tournament
The Mulgrave Titans are set to make a third straight appearance in the championship game while the Langley Christian Lightning make a third appearance in the past four tournaments with both schools looking for their second title in that span after each team won their respective semi-final games Friday on the third day of the 2024 BC School Sports 2A Girls Basketball Provincial Championships.
The teams will tip off on Saturday (March 2) at 4:00pm on Centre Court. The top-seed Titans come in as the defending champions while Langley Christian – who won the 2022 title over Mulgrave – aim to improve on their bronze medals from the 2023 tournament.
Mulgrave won 70-44 over the No. 5 St. Thomas More Collegiate Knights while the third- seed Lightning pulled off the 74-40 upset over the No. 2 Holy Cross Crusaders.
The Titans started their game on a 17-2 run and never looked back, leading by double
digits the rest of the way in their 70-44 victory. Eva Ruse proved unstoppable for Mulgrave as the 6-2 forward delivered a 34-point performance, 20 rebounds as well as a pair of steals, two blocked shots and an assist. And while Ruse was the primary scorer, Jenna Talib chipped in with 19 points to go along with six rebounds, five assists and three steals and one blocked shot.
The Knights were led offensively by 14 points from Demicah Arnaldo and 10 from Mail Beliveau. Beliveau also had six rebounds, six steals and five assists.
The other semi-final winner saw the Lightning also open on a 17-2 run as they defeated
the Holy Cross Crusaders 74-40. Colette Van der Hoven poured in 33 for Langley Christian to go along with seven rebounds, six assists and four steals. Grace Bradshaw added 13 to go along with six rebounds, three assists and three steals.
3A Tournament
The top two seeds are set to square off in the BC School Sports 3A Girls Basketball
Provincial Championships on Saturday, with each winning in vastly different ways.
The Brookswood Bobcats were 73-51 winners over the Reynolds Roadrunners, while
the St. Michaels University School Blue Jags needed a late free throw to prevail 55-54
over the South Kamloops Titans. The top-seed Bobcats and the No. 2 Blue Jags will play on Centre Court on Saturday (March 2) at 6:15pm.
The first of the semi-finals saw Brookswood ride a dominant first half – they were up 45- 18 after 20 minutes – and some great outside shooting as they made 14 three-pointers
in a 73-51 win over Reynolds.
The Bobcats led by as many as 37 points in the game with Jordyn Nohr leading the way
for the ‘Cats with 20 points, also adding four assists, three rebounds and three steals and Hazel Phillips chipped in with 16. Saige Parfitt (17 points) and Bella Graves (16) were the top scorers for the Roadrunners. While the first game was won by double digits, the latter was decided by a single point as Charlie Anderson sank a free throw with 1.7 seconds remaining to snap a tie game and send the Blue Jags to 55-54 victory.
Anderson finished with 21 points and seven rebounds, to go along with three steals and
a pair of assists. The game kept seeing St. Michaels University School build a lead only for the Titans to storm back and despite having less than two seconds to work with, their attempt at a game-winner did not drop.
Avery Geddes added 20 points in the victory. For South Kamloops, Feron Wallace had a
double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, Lucy Marchese added 16 Kiana Kaczur chipped in 14.
4A Tournament
The No. 1 seed Riverside Rapids and the third-seed Seaquam Seahawks were both big winners on Friday night, earning a spot in the BC School Sports 4A Girls Basketball Provincial Championships. The Rapids won 81-65 over No. 4 Okanagan Mission while Seaquam defeated No. 7 Yale 81-40, setting up a showdown on Saturday (March 1) at 8:30pm.
Riverside is 40 minutes away from repeating as provincial champions following a decisive 81-65 win over the Okanagan Mission Huskies. The Huskies had pulled to within three points in the second quarter only to watch the top-seeded Rapids go on a 30-11 run to close the half and then open the third. Avery Sussex was dominant, scoring 27 of her 35 points in the first half. She also added a dozen rebounds while Jorja Hart chipped in with 13 points. Presley Hopf had 21 for the Huskies.
The second semi-final saw Seaquam trail briefly in the opening minutes before taking a
48-16 halftime lead thanks to a 20-2 second quarter. The Seahawks had a balanced
attack in the game with five players in double figures led by Sydney Roufousse’s 15
points and 12 rebounds and Callie Brost’s 13 points. Seaquam was also efficient from
beyond the arc, making 8 of their 20 three-point attempts (40 percent). The Lions
offence struggled to get on track, but Maeva Carnahan did lead all scorers with 16 points.
