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North Okanagan basketball playoffs commence

High school Valley and Zone finals in Vernon this week
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Ashley Budgen of the Vernon Panthers goes up for two points against Seaton Sonics defender Greenley Schneider during the North Zone Senior Girls AA Basketball Championships final at the Panther Pit. Both teams, along with the Pleasant Valley Sinners of Armstrong, advance to the Okanagan championships starting Thursday at VSS. (Katherine Peters/Morning Star)

The North Zone Senior Boys AA Basketball Championships go Tuesday and Wednesday at Vernon’s Fulton Secondary.

The host Maroons will play the Kalamalka Lakers Tuesday at 6 p.m., and the Seaton Sonics of Vernon will face the Pleasant Valley Saints of Armstrong at 7:45 p.m.

The two winners advance to Wednesday’s final at 7:45 p.m., and the two losers meet Wednesday at 6 p.m. The top three teams advance to next week’s Okanagan championships.

SENIOR GIRLS AA

The Vernon Panthers host the Okanagan Valley AA Senior Girls Basketball Championships starting Thursday at the Panther Pit.

The Panthers won the North Zones this past weekend beating the Seaton Sonics in the finals. Pleasant Valley Sinners of Armstrong finished third, with all three teams making the Valley championships.

The matchups for Thursday will see the No. 6 AA-ranked Panthers playing the Norkam Saints of Kamloops at 2 p.m. B.C. honourable mention Valleyview Vikings of Kamloops will face Seaton at 3:45 p.m. The defending B.C. AA champion, and current No. 2-ranked South Kamloops Titans take on PVSS at 5:30 p.m., and the nightcap is an all-Kamloops battle between the Westsyde Whundas and Sa-Hali Sabres.

Games on Friday will begin at 3 pm with the semifinals at 6:30 and 8:15 p.m.

The championship game will be Saturday at 8:15 p.m.

“It will be great to play in front of our home crowd,” said VSS head coach Dave Tetrault. “We are playing well and hope to carry that focused play throughout the weekend.”

SEATON WINS JUNIOR GIRLS ZONES

The Seaton Sonics and Vernon Panthers have advanced to this weekend’s Okanagan Valley Junior Girls Basketball Championships in Summerland.

The North Zone champion Sonics will play Valleyview of Kamloops and VSS meets Sa-Hali of Kamloops in their opening games Friday.

Seaton won the Zone pennant with a tough 44-28 win over the Panthers at the Seaton gym.

The Sonics, iundefeated in league play, fell behind early in the final as VSS came out strong and quickly took control in the opening quarter.

Seaton pecked away at the lead and eventually built up an 11-point advantage.

“We can never be caught on our heels with VSS, and we needed to be ready for a hard fight,” said Sonics coach Chris Colclough. “They are a well-coached team with depth and skill. They know how to play us and we had to have a rock-solid game plan in order to beat them. Our girls played incredibly well as a team with everyone contributing to the win.”

Seaton and VSS had byes into the semifinals. In quarterfinal play, the Fulton Maroons edged the Salmon Arm Jewels 35-33 and the Kalamalka Lakers defeated the Charles Bloom Timberwolves of Lumby.

Seaton beat Fulton 43-19 in one semifinal while the Panthers edged Kal 47-45 in overtime in a barnburner.



roger@vernonmorningstar.com

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Seaton Sonics defender Annika Van Vliet (18) looks to disrupt an inbound pass from Sarah Boyd of the Vernon Panthers during the North Zone Junior Girls Basketball Championships final at Seaton Secondary, won by the host Sonics. Both teams advance to this weekend’s Okanagan finals in Summerland. (Photo submitted)