Ranked among the top 10 in B.C. for much of the season, the 2013-14 campaign didn’t end quite the way the KSS Owls senior girls basketball team had planned.
The host Owls settled for fourth place at the Okanagan Valley AAA championship last weekend in Kelowna.
KSS went in as the second seed but were the victims of an upset on Friday night, losing to the No. 3 Pen Hi Lakers 66-57.
Emily Clarke paced the Lakers with 16 points, while Hannah Friesen had 14 in a disappointing outcome for the Owls.
“We couldn’t handle Penticton’s guards,” said Owls’ coach Lisa Nevoral. “We went a little dry on offense in the second half and had some untimely turnovers. The girls tried to battle back and came within five points in the fourth quarter, but then Penticton hit some threes that put them ahead by 10 in which we couldn’t dig out of.”
It wasn’t the only upset of valleys as the top-ranked South Kamloops Titans lost a shocker to No. 4 Salmon Arm, 51-47.
In the third place game, the Titans beat the Owls 81-53, with Kaitlyn Lafontaine scoring 11 points on the loss.
Hannah Friesen and Selma Kusturica of KSS were named to the tournament’s all-star team.
The Owls were competitive within the province this season but dearly missed the services of Kiana Lalonde who injured her knee during the summer and didn’t play a single game this year.
“They grew as a group and were playing more as a team by the end of the season,” Nevoral said of her team.
Other players graduating from the program are Kailtyn Lafontaine, Madison Barton, Jordan Nicholas, Charlotte Lewthwaite, and Jennie Evans.
Lafontaine was the team’s top Grade 12 scorer and rebounder.
Penticton defeated Salmon Arm 70-49 in the final to advance to provincials.
