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A dominating team in the Okanagan this season, the KLO Cougars proved they are also among the best in the province on the weekend at the B.C. Grade 9 girls basketball championship tournament.
The Cougars, easily the No. 1 seed from the Valley, won three of four games to earn a silver medal at the provincial showdown in Vancouver. The only blemish on an otherwise perfect season against Grade 9 teams is a 55-30 loss to the St. Thomas Aquinas Fighting Saints of North Vancouver in the B.C. final.
Up against the No. 1-ranked team in the province that included 6-foot-3 and 6-foot-1 forwards who combined for 48 points in the championship game, the Cougars couldn’t match up with the opposition’s height.
“Our strength is at the guard position and our outside shooting,” explained head coach Heather Semeniuk. “Because we couldn’t go inside on them, we were forced to shoot a lot from the outside, but not enough shots found net against a team that proved clearly it was a cut above the rest.”
Kassidy Day led the Cougars with 11 points in the final while fellow provincial all-star, Rylee Semeniuk (Heather’s granddaughter), added 10.
The Cougars, ranked No. 3 going into the provincials, earned a berth in the final by upsetting No. 2 North Surrey Spartans 44-39 in a semifinal game that saw KLO take a healthy lead early and then hang on against a determined Spartans squad in the final quarter.
Semeniuk scored nine points to lead a well-balanced KLO attack. Day, Morgan Begg and Katrina Fink added eight points apiece.
KLO opened the 16-team event in Vancouver by downing the Robert Bateman Timberwolves of Abbotsford 53-11 and won their second game 46-30 over Surrey’s Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers.
“We were absolutely thrilled with the way the girls played and represented the Okanagan,” said coach Semeniuk, whose team was joined by the Penticton Lakers and the Summerland Rockets at the provincial tournament. “We hadn’t played in two weeks, so we weren’t sure how the girls would respond. But they showed they can compete with the best of the teams in the province. The future of girls high school basketball in the Valley sure looks bright.”
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