LANGLEY – For the second straight year, the Brookswood Bobcats are provincial champions.
The Bobcats pulled away in the late going to take down Abbotsford’s W.J. Moaut Hawks 68-55 early Saturday night inside an electric Langley Events Centre gymnasium, to capture the 2015 B.C. senior girls ‘AAA’ basketball championships, presented by Telus.
In a game that saw nine lead changes and four ties, the Bobcats used some clutch baskets from tournament MVP Aislinn Konig and Louise Forsythe midway through the third quarter and held on for the victory.
“Trailing at the half, we just kept plugging away,” Bobcats assistant coach Chris Veale said. “We told the girls to stick to what we do and it should work itself out, and luckily it did.”
Konig scored a game-high 26 points to go along with her eight rebounds, four assists and two steals and won her second consecutive tournament MVP. She was also named Most Outstanding Defensive Player.
“It’s surreal,” the Grade 11 guard said. “We didn’t have the same skill we had last year. A lot of young players really stepped up.”
The first half was a back-and-forth tilt as W.J. Mouat went into the break with a one-point lead (30-29).
The second half is where the Bobcats shined and proved why they were the tourney’s No. 1 seed, by holding the Hawks to just 18 points in the final two quarters.
“I don’t know what happened but in the fourth quarter we went cold,” Hawks assistant coach Tara Burton said. “We didn’t take advantage of a bunch of good looks around the hoop and they burned us.”
Bobcats’ forward Tayla Jackson finished with 10 points but it was Forsyth coming through with some crucial baskets including a couple of big three-pointers which took the wind out of the sails of the Hawks.
The Bobcats made their third straight trip to the finals and if Konig has it her way, she’d love to cap off her high school career with another championship next year.
“Of course that would be nice,” she said. “For now, I’ll go and celebrate this one with my team.”
