The results from last week’s B.C. junior girls basketball championships showed that making accurate predictions is tough to do in the world of high school sports.
For the highly touted Royal Bay Ravens, who entered the tournament seeded third and earned a first-round bye, the promise of a potential B.C. title ended early. An opening game 47-39 loss to the Robert Bateman Timberwolves from Abbotsford last week in Langley dropped the Ravens out of the championship bracket, where the best they could finish was ninth.
The Ravens dropped their next game as well, 55-45 to Brookswood Bobcats of Langley, before rebounding to defeat Abbotsford’s MEI 62-55 on Friday then Penticton 53-51 on Saturday to finish 13th overall in the 24-team draw.
By comparison, the Timberwolves entered the draw seeded 14th and won a qualifying game to reach their game against the Ravens. After dropping Royal Bay into the Showcase Bracket, they won two of their next three, including the bronze medal game, 54-53 over 11th-ranked Lord Tweedsmuir from Surrey.
The top two teams, Kelowna and St. Thomas Aquinas from North Vancouver, respectively, stuck to the script by advancing to Saturday’s final. However, the No. 2-seeded Fighting Saints handily defeated the No. 1 Owls, 49-27.
Again showing how anything can happen at this level, the Saints are the same team which the Ravens beat 50-20 at a provincial qualifying tournament last month in Duncan.
Other Island finishes at the tournament saw Nanaimo District place 18th and G.P. Vanier from Courtenay wind up 21st.
editor@goldstreamgazette.com
