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The winners performed as predicted on Thursday at the Okanagan Valley senior AA girls basketball championship tournament.
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However prognosticators will have a much tougher time forecasting tonight's semifinal outcomes, as the four teams remaining in the hunt for berth at the B.C. championship tournament are a tight 3-4-5-6 in the provincial double-A rankings.
The host Okanagan Mission Huskies, ranked No. 4 in the province going into the eight-team Valley tournament, breezed to an 83-24 win over the Sahali Sabres of Kamloops.
They’ll meet No. 6 South Kamloops Titans in one semi beginning at 8:15 p.m. today. The Titans earned the right to advance by defeating the Clarence Fulton Maroons of Vernon 78-30.
The other semifinal will see Kelowna’s Immaculata Mustangs, ranked No. 5 provincially, taking on the No. 3 Vernon Panthers starting at 6:30 p.m. at OKM. The Mustangs held off a late charge by the Westsyde Whundas of Kamloops to secure a 69-62 victory on Thursday while Vernon handled the NorKam Saints 97-51 for their semifinal berth.
Winners of Friday’s semis will not only play for the Valley pennant on Saturday beginning at 8:15 p.m., but will have guaranteed themselves two of the three provincial berths available to the Okanagan. Two other teams will earn a wild card game for a back-door bid to advance to the B.C. championship tournament.
A 24-point performance by University of Victoria-bound, Hannah Walline led the host Huskies in their opener. Jordan Robb contributed 19 points and Kiara Gaspari chipped in with 16.
The Huskies, Central Okanagan league champions, will have a much tougher time on Friday against SouthKam. In their only meeting this season (Jan. 14), OKM downed the Titans 59-51.
Immaculata will be looking to avenge an 87-81 loss to the Vernon Panthers when the two teams meet in their semi.
The Mustangs again relied on the dynamic duo of Ashlyn Day and Kate Johnson to get by a pesky Westsyde team. The two provincial-team players racked up 30 and 25 points respectively against the Whundas, who trailed 52-35 going into the fourth quarter, but climbed to within three points late in the game.
In the only meeting between Immaculata and Vernon this season (Jan. 7), the Panthers prevailed 87-81.
OKM will be the busiest school in the Central Okanagan this weekend.
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As well as hosting the AA girls Valley championship tournament, the Huskies are also welcoming seven visiting teams for the Okanagan junior girls championship beginning on today.
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