With Exam Week behind them, the VSS Panthers found their groove and stuffed the Pen-Hi Lakers 75-51 Saturday in the finals of the Lakers senior girls basketball invitational.
Megan Rouault drained 19 points, while Brianna Falk bagged 18 for the Panthers, ranked No. 3 in the provincial AA poll.
VSS earlier wiped out the Richmond Colts 97-19 behind 40 points from Mackenzie Horst and dismantled MacNeill Ravens of Richmond 88-21 with Kelsey Falk flushing 17 points.
“Our focus was execution on offence and defence in preparation for Tessa’s (Beauchamp Memorial) Tournament (Friday in Langley) and the playoff push,” said Cats head coach Lonny Mazurak. “We get Holy Cross Friday, No. 1 AAA Oak Bay and No. 5 Yale on Saturday….all games will be excellent tests for the group.”
The George Elliot Coyotes of Lake Country won the senior girls portion of the Seaton 27th Street Invitational, brushing back the host Sonics 57-30 in their final round-robin game Saturday.
Izzy Barrodale canned 20 points for the Coyotes, while Isabelle Waltar-Sacrey was tireless and led second-place Seaton with eight points. Evan Koshure had a great game defensively for the Sonics.
“They dominated the boards and managed to outrun us,” said Seaton head coach Shelley Henry.
Eliza Northcott sank 18 points as Seaton stopped Pleasant Valley Saints of Armstrong 54-28 in their second game of the round-robin. Sam Scott supplied a dozen points and Jackson Nicholls calmly sank six. Emily Gordey led PVSS with nine points.
The Valleyview Vikings of Kamloops defeated Summerland by a bucket to take the six-team junior girls side of the tournament. Seaton was up at half time against Sa-Hali Sabres of Kamloops but ended up losing by double digits in the game for third place.
In senior boys play, the AA Fulton Maroons went 1-2 at the Salmon Arm tourney, opening with a 63-60 loss to the AAAA Salmon Arm Golds.
“We played alright, but turned it over too much and shot 17 for 35 from the line which really cost us,” said Fulton coach Dale Olson.
Ike Olson provided 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Maroons, while Hunter Krieger rang up 11 points and Caden Doyle pocketed nine points and eight boards.
Fulton then bowed 88-62 to the AAA South Kam Titans with Olson producing 17 points and 11 rebounds in limited action due to foul trouble, and Doyle collecting 16 points and seven rebounds.
Star guard Nathan Banga returned from injury and registered 26 points as Fulton upended the South Okanagan Hornets of Oliver 77-48. Doyle kicked in 16 points, while Olson netted 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Outstanding defensive player of tourney was Olson, while player of the game shirts went to Cole Hunter, Doyle and Jeff Han.
Fulton went 1-2 at the Salmon Arm junior boys tournament, finishing Saturday with a 58-40 win over South Okanagan behind point guard Alan Bargaso’s 31 points, six rebonds and five steals.
Jacob Friesen scored 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds, while Levi Lee had eight points and eight rebounds.
South Kam knocked off the Maroons 66-42 Saturday morning with Bargaso bagging 15 points with three rebounds and four assists.
Rhavinder Dhanoah put up 10 points with seven rebounds and Lee fired nine.
The Maroons lost 64-41 to the host Golds in their opener with starting center Dhanoa sinking 13 points and grabbing nine boards while posting one block and two steals. Inderpal Chahal and Friesen added seven points each.