The Okanagan Mission Huskies are celebrating their second tournament championship win of the senior girls basketball season.
OKM captured the Grand Forks Invitational last weekend with a 68-44 victory in the final over the Rutland Senior Secondary Voodoos.
Tournament MVP Amy Sloan led the Huskies attack with 26 points, while Claire Smeltzer added 24. Danielle Orr led RSS with 15 points.
OKM opened the tournament with an 85-26 trouncing of Osoyoos. Sloan led the way with 24 while point guard Kaitlyn McKay scored 20 and Katie Capozzi added 11.
In the semi-final OKM thrashed host Grand Forks 93-44 with Smeltzer scoring 24, and Sloan 21. McKay and Capozzi added 16 apiece, while Shannon Farvolden chipped in with eight points.
Mustangs 3rd at B.C. Catholics
The Immaculata Mustangs captured the bronze medal at the B.C. Catholics Senior Boys Basketball Championship.
In the third-place final Saturday at Holy Cross High School in Surrey, the Mustangs defeated St. Ann’s Academy of Kamloops 52-43. Player of the game Alex Hart scored 24 points for the Mustangs, while Dario Gini added 15.
Immaculata opened the weekend with a 61-53 win over Notre Dame. Gini hit seven three-pointers on the way to a 25-point effort, while Hart had 17.
In the semifinal, the Mustangs struggled to score and went down to defeat, 56-29 to St. Thomas Moore.
The Mustangs were down 12 at half and just couldn’t get it going, prompting head coach Gini substituted off his starters at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
All in all, Gini was satisfied with his team’s effort.
“It was another great opportunity to work on things and to compete against teams we have not seen before,” Gini said. “I was a little disappointed for the boys in the semi final game as we just could not finish, we missed layups, missed put backs and missed many great looks from the perimeter and as a team we moved the ball very well on offense and handled their pressure very well.
“Dario was frustrated as he had great looks but they wouldn’t fall but handled the ball well and ran the offense. Alex Hart had his best weekend of basketball, played big, played strong and hit some perimeter shots, he was simply very very good this past weekend.”
Hart was named to the tournament’s first all-star team, while Gini was named to the second.
Owls junior girls…
The KSS Owls went 3-1 and settled for fifth place at the Pen Hi junior girls basektball tournament.
The Owls only loss came in their second game at the hands of a top 10-ranked team, 54-46 to the W.J. Mouat Hawks. Team MVP Kaitlyn Lafontaine scored 16 points against Mouat, while Jennie Evans added 12.
“The Owls were with them all the way, but their intensity and speed took over at the end,” said Owls coach Kirsten Mulleny. “I was very impressed with how the girls responded to such physical play.
In their first game, the Owls beat Archbishop Carney 51-22. Lafomtaine scored 28 points, and team defensive MVP Brette Baybutt had seven steals.
KSS also defeated Vernon 45-29 with Baybutt scoring 11, and Madison Barton grabbing 12 rebounds.
In their final game for fifth, the Owls downed Salmon Arm 51-35.
Lafomtaine had 27 points and Amanda Moore added 12.
