The Bulkley Valley Christian Royals senior girls basketball team traveled to Clearbrook to participate in the Single A Girls High School Provincials March 7-10. At the end of the tournament, the team ended up a surprising 12th place overall against some outstanding competition.
The team was ranked 14th going into the tournament and in their first game went up against the third ranked Mulgrave Titans from West Vancouver. The Royals put up a good effort against a strong opponent but fell 73-34. The player of the game for BVCS was Alyson Stolte.
Game two had the Royals matched up against the 11th ranked Sparwood Spartans. After jumping out to a 15-2 lead following the first quarter, the team couldn’t maintain the lead and the Spartans started to chip away at the Royals’ advantage.
BVCS kept leads of 22-17 at the half and 39-34 after three quarters but
Sparwood tied it up at 50-50 with less than a minute to play. This set up some game ending heroics by Martina Vandenberg as she hit a crucial three-point basket with 16 seconds left in the game to seal the 53-50 victory. Vandenberg was the player of the game with six three-point baskets and a total of 24 points.
The next matchup for the Royals was against the number 10 ranked St. Andrew Sabres from Victoria. This was a close game with quarter scores of 14-10 and 27-23 for St. Andrews, but the Victoria school pulled away at the end of the third quarter for an 11 point lead, 45-34 and they went on to post a 55-44 win. Lexa Steenhof was voted the player of the game.
The final game for BVCS was against the 11th ranked Agassiz Eagles and this was a tough matchup as the Eagles started two post players who were significantly taller than the Royals centers. Katrina Lawley, at 6’2”, scored 20 points while six footer Abby Wilson added 18.
The Royals battled hard and lost a close game by a score of 49-41. Rose Loki was voted the player of the game.
The Royals ended up in 12th place, which was an improvement on their initial ranking and up from last year’s placing of 16th.
The team is very young with only a single Grade 12 player and one Grade 11 team member. It was a good learning experience for the team, according to the coaching staff.
The host school, Unity Christian, defeated Kelowna Christian 60-38 to claim the 2018 Provincial title.
–Submitted story