First round of the battle between Okanagan Valley senior AA girls contenders goes to the Immaculata Mustangs of Kelowna.
The No. 3-ranked Mustangs mauled the No. 5 VSS Panthers 73-51 Saturday night to claim the Vernon PIT Classic title.
Immaculata drained a miracle trey at the buzzer to go up 11 at the half, while the Panthers recorded too many unforced turnovers in the second half to sustain a steady push to get back in the game.
The Mustangs were paced by tourney MVP Emma Johnson, all-star Ashlyn Day and Top Defensive Player Jayden Penkala.
Jordan Korol rang up 13 points for VSS, while Jordyn Cullum drained a dozen, Anna Rice produced 10 and Jessica Melvin added eight. Game star was Kristy Fugel.
Rice won the tournament’s Most Unselfish Player hardware, while Melvin took the Panther Award. Cullum and Korol made the all-star team.
“Immaculata was in mid-season form and have set a high standard if we want to compete for a valley championship,” said VSS head coach Lonny Mazurak. “Coach T (Dave Tetreault) and I are pleased with the progress we made this weekend but do know we have a long ways to go to compete with the top teams in B.C. at the AA level.”
The Panthers earlier Saturday ambushed the George Elliot Coyotes of Lake Country 59-27 with Cullum registering 17 points and six rebounds. Melvin pocketed 13 points and nine rebounds. Rice was named game MVP.
Immaculata iced the Sa-Hali Sabres of Kamloops 88-32 in their other Saturday game.
The Fulton Maroons bounced George Elliot 75-44 and lost 69-64 to the NorKam Saints in Saturday round-robin play.
Meanwhile, VSS dispatched Sa-Hali 71-49 in North Zone senior boys league play Saturday.
“Size was the big difference as Ben Hladik and Spencer Shaw dominated inside against the smaller Sa-Hali team, scoring 24 and eight points respectively,” said Panther head coach Glenn Garvie. “The defence was outstanding with everyone on the team getting significant playing time.”
VSS was up by 18 after the first quarter and held the lead the entire game.
VSS played the Kalamalka Lakers Tuesday night and are in the Kwantlen Park tournament in Surrey starting Thursday against the Dellview Raiders of Delta. The Cats tackle the Sullivan Heights Stars of Surrey later Thursday.
The Fulton Maroons stuffed the St. Thomas More Knights of Burnaby 72-60 in the consolation final Saturday at the G.W. Graham Grizzlies senior boys invitational in Chilliwack.
Tye Kitzman collected 23 points and 14 rebounds for the Maroons, while Karanmeet Khatra supplied 20 points and boards and Darrien Broomfield bagged 10 points and 18 rebounds. Cory Ang received game MVP.
Khatra was selected to the first all-star squad, while Kitzman, who missed one game due to Football B.C. action Friday, made the second team.
“We got very strong tournaments from Noah Alleyne and Cory Ang,” said Fulton coach Dale Olson. “We finished third and are getting better every day.”
The Maroons tangled with the Seaton Sonics in league play Tuesday night.
The VSS Grade 8 girls won the Dr. Knox tournament in Kelowna by going 2-1 in the four-team, round-robin.
VSS brushed back Dr. Knox 33-29 in the opener behind 10 points from game MVP Savana DeWitt.
“Savana went hard to the hoop all game and had her strongest game of the year,” said Panther coach Mike Bertram.
Kelsey Falk scored nine points and put up double-digit blocks, while Katie Peters added five points. Olivia Sawka and Ally Carter had strong two-way games.
The Panther Cubs lost 42-28 to the Kettle Valley Railway Express of Penticton with Jessee Harman leading VSS with six points, Falk getting five and Jaide Vanderleest and Emilia Durfeld each adding four.
“KVR put on a good full-court press and doubled our guards which made it difficult to get the ball up the court,” said Bertram. “Playing a top quality team like that will make us stronger for the second half of the year.”
Falk was the player of the game.
The Panthers finished by beating previously undefeated South Kam Titans 39-31.
“The girls were down by 13 heading into the fourth quarter. They picked up the defence and put on a press which led to a 23-2 quarter.”
Falk led all scorers with 10, all in the fourth quarter, while DeWitt chipped in with eight and Bree Vanderleest had six. Harman was player of the game. Brienna Condie and Sarah Crerar both played strong defence down the stretch.
