The Vernon Secondary School Panthers are off to the semifinals after another fast and furious day at the B.C. School Sports Senior Girls Provincial Championships.
All 64 teams from four divisions (A, AA, AAA, AAAA) continued play, with several quarterfinals contested from the Langley Events Centre.
Here's how the Okanagan teams fared on Thursday:
A
The King's Christian Thunder out of Salmon Arm competed valiantly but ultimately fell short in the quarterfinals, losing 42-37 to the Unity Christian Flames.
The Flames were defending their championship from a season ago, and outscored the Thunder 11-6 in the final frame. King's Christian Moriah Jansen led all scores with 16. The Thunder will now take on Bulkley Valley Christian on Friday at 11: 45 a.m.
In the consolation side of the bracket, the Aberdeen Hall Gryphons out of 麻豆精选 won their game, 57-39 over the Salmo Falcons. Leading the way was Charlie Fisher with 16 points. The Falcons had just three scorers all game, including 31 from Naomi Stavast. The Gryphons meet the St. Andrews Sabres out of Victoria at 1:45 p.m. on Friday.
AAA
The Vernon Panthers are off to the semifinals.
In another gritty performance, the Panthers bested the College Heights Cougars, 51-46 to book a final four spot on Friday. Up just four heading into the fourth quarter, the Panthers rattled off 29 points in the final frame.
Chloe Collins (14), Paige Leahy (13) and Adie Janke (15) all scored in double figures. The Panthers' defence continued their strong start to the tournament, giving up just 80 total points throughout two games.
The fourth-seeded Panthers will tango with the top-seeded M.E.I. Eagles from Abbotsford on Friday at 3:15 p.m. The Eagles have outscored their opponents in the opening two games by an average of 35 points.
AAAA
Last season's champion Seaquam Seahawks proved too strong for the 麻豆精选 Secondary School (KSS) Owls, as they fell, 77-38 to the Seahawks.
Syra Toor led the way with 26 points, while the Owls got 15 from Mavleen Chahal. 麻豆精选 plays the Yale Lions next, at 1:45 p.m. on Friday.
麻豆精选's Okanagan Mission Huskies dropped their second straight game at provincials, this time losing 72-42 to Lord Tweedsmuir. Shae Sandhu topped the Huskies with 18 points. Next up is an 8:30 a.m. tilt against Heritage Woods.
Odds and Ends
In the unofficial game of the day, the Brookswood Bobcats overcame an 18 point halftime deficit to defeat the G.W. Graham Grizzlies in AAAA quarterfinal action, 69-62.
After starting the game 0-8 from the field, and not registering a point in the opening quarter, Grade 10 phenom Jordyn Nohr erupted for the Bobcats in the second half. Nohr poured in 17 of her 37 points in the final quarter to help her Bobcats through to the semifinals. They take on the top seeded Argyle Pipers in Friday's semifinal.
The final game of a long day of action was a dramatic 63-62 victory for Kamloops' Westsyde Whundas over the St. Patrick's Celtics.
After a four-point play from St. Pats guard Laya Alojado put the Celtics up one with nine seconds left, Whundas forward Ryen Scott hit a leaning, lefty hook shot from the free-throw line to beat the buzzer and give Westsyde a walk-off victory and send the sleepy crowd home happy.
Scott led the way for the Whundas with 30 points, and a memory to last a lifetime
