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Already guaranteed a berth at next month’s provincial tournament, the Kelowna Owls showed they weren’t about to rest on the laurels on the weekend at the Okanagan Valley junior girls basketball championship.
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The Kelowna Secondary School representatives, ranked No. 1 in B.C., cruised to the Valley pennant by dominating three straight games, including a 59-46 decision over the host Okanagan Mission Huskies in the title game on Saturday.
While the Owls trailed 7-1 early in the match, they went on a 16-0 run to lead 17-7 by the quarter and stretched the lead to 36-14 by the half. OKM did take advantage of KSS utilizing its non-starters extensively in the second half to close the wide gap, but the deficit was too much to overcome.
Tournament all-star, Jaeli Ibbetson, scoring 22 points, 12 of which came in the first half, led the Owls, who had 11 players net at least two points in the game. Lily Pink was the top OKM contributor with 27 points, all but four of them coming in the second half. She was also selected as an all-star along with Marli Gallagher of KSS, Melaina Corrado of OKM and Kalie Doell of Penticton.
The Owls, who had earned a berth at the provincial tournament by winning a provincial qualifying tournament earlier in the season, reached the Valley final by defeating the Princess Margaret Mustangs of Penticton 72-10 in their semifinal match on Friday. KSS opened the eight-team Valley tournament with a 59-20 win over the Sahali Sabres of Kamloops.
Meanwhile, OKM, ranked 15th in the province going into the Valley championship, upset the No. 3-ranked Penticton Lakers 52-34 in semifinal play on Saturday for the right to meet KSS in the final. Pink again set the pace offensively with a 28-point effort for the Huskies, who defeated the North Kamloops Saints 47-40 in their opening game.
Penticton and the fourth-place Vernon Panthers will join KSS and OKM as Okanagan representatives at the 16-team provincial tournament in Langley March 1-4.
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Vernon Valley champs, Immaculata finishes third
Displaying the height and depth that earned them the No. 3-ranking in the province going into the weekend, the Vernon Panthers claimed the Okanagan Valley senior AA girls basketball pennant on Saturday.
The Panthers, with four of their eight players reaching double digits in scoring, came back from a three-point deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat the No. 6-ranked South Kamloops Titans 71-63 in the Valley final at Okanagan Mission Secondary School.
Kelsey Falk and Mackenzie Horst led the Panthers with 17 and 16 points respectively while Brianna Falk contributed 15 and Megan Rouault added 14 in a game that saw SouthKam take a 59-56 lead early in the final frame. Vernon responded with a 9-0 run to overcome the deficit and go on to victory.
Vernon and SouthKam will be joined by the Immaculata Mustangs as Okanagan Valley representatives at the 45th annual B.C. double-A championship tournament in Langley March 1-4.
No. 5-ranked Immaculata edged No. 4 Okanagan Mission Huskies 79-78 for third place on Saturday to earn the final Okanagan berth. OKM will challenge the Holy Cross Crusaders of Surrey for one provincial wild-card berth this week while the Westsyde Whundas of Kamloops will challenge the College Heights Cougars of Prince for the other wild card.
For Immaculata, it was its first win in four tries against OKM this season and the Mustangs had to stave off a late charge by the Huskies to do it. Up by 16 points early in the fourth quarter, the Mustangs gave up 16 straight points to allow OKM to pull into a tie. But Immaculata was able to regain a slim lead and held on for the victory.
University of Victoria-bound Ashlyn Day, with the help of seven three-pointers, finished with a tournament-high 49 points to lead the Mustangs. Fellow provincial-team player, Kate Johnson, contributed 30.
Immaculata coach, Andrew Gini, said that while Day and Johnson dominated the scoring, he was pleased with the team effort.
“The majority of the points came from two players, but the amount of teamwork and communication showed by all the players was great to watch,” said Gini, who was missing a key player in injured Teaghan Wallace. “Everyone was focused on winning and playing their role. Gabby Cocar was a fantastic leader, scoring key points throughout the weekend and playing an important role defensively.
“Katarina Routley was a beast on defence as well and Justin Puno played smart defence and battled hard all weekend. Grade 10 Mikhaela Holroid had a crazy compete level and was very strong on the boards.”
Meanwhile, OKM’s Kiara Gaspari, playing in her final game on home court, led the Huskies with a 24-point performance. Grade 12 Marin Felt chipped in with 16 points while Hannah Walline, also heading to UVic this fall, added 14 for the Huskies in a losing cause.
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Kelowna Owls win AAA Valley title and berth a provincials
First-place finishers in the regular season, the Kelowna Owls completed an undefeated 2016-17 schedule in the Okanagan with a Valley pennant on the weekend in Salmon Arm.
A 57-55 victory over the Penticton Lakers in the championship game improved the Owls’ record to 10-0 on the season in the Valley and earned the Owls the senior AAA girls championship and a berth at the B.C. triple-A tournament being held at the Langley Events Centre March 1-4.
First-team all-star, Kennedy Dickie, set the pace for the Kelowna Secondary School representatives win the title matchup, scoring 13 points, grabbing nine rebounds and adding three steals. Dez Day put up 11 points and Kasey Patchell contributed nine while Alley Corrado, the player of the game, chipped in with nine points, five rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
The Owls earned their spot in the final by defeating the host Salmon Arm Jewels 88-30 in semifinal play, led by Abby Cullen, who netted 14 points to go along with 11 boards and two steals. Corrado had 12 points and eight assists while Dickie and Day finished with 11 points apiece.
Dickie was joined on the Valley all-star team by teammates Corrado and Courtney Donaldson while Monica Curtis of the Mt. Boucherie Bears and Hanna Clarke of Penticton were also named to the dream team.
Lindsay Carron of Penticton was selected as the most valuable player.
OKM junior boys secure spot at provincial championship
The Okanagan Mission Huskies won three of four games on the weekend to earn a trip to the B.C. School Sports junior boys basketball provincial championship tournament.
Ranked No. 8 before the Okanagan Valley championship in Kamloops, the Huskies were upset 57-56 by the unranked Salmon Arm Golds in their opening game, but rebounded for three straight wins to garner one of four zone berths at provincials.
Salmon Arm went on to claim second place in the Valley, losing to the Westsyde Whundas in the title match on Saturday.
A 53-42 triumph over the Vernon Panthers capped the Huskies’ run to a provincial berth. Harry Bortolon scored 13 points and Matty Kopp added 12 for OKM, who defeated the Rutland Voodoos 57-42 earlier in the day. The win also spoiled the Voodoos’ bid for a spot at the provincial championship being held in Langley beginning on Saturday. In their second game of the eight-team event, OKM downed Similkameen 70-42.
Phil Michl was the top point-getter for the Huskies against Rutland, scoring 15 points. Kopp had 13 and Rylan Brownlee chipped in with 10. In the win over Similkameen, Michl again led the scoring parade with 14 points while Kopp finished with 12 and Justin Charlton with 11.
Brownlee topped the chart with 20 points in a losing cause against Salmon Arm. Kopp netted 12 points and Nolan Katinic scored nine in a game that saw the Central Okanagan champions get off to a slow start and then succumb into foul trouble.
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