For the first time in more than three decades, the Vernon Panthers have advanced to the B.C. Senior AA Girls Basketball Championship final.
The Cats reached the gold-medal game by shading the St. Thomas Aquinas Fighting Saints of North Vancouver 54-53 in a thrilling semifinal battle Friday night at the Tournament Capital Centre in Kamloops.
They faced the No. 1 ranked Holy Cross Crusaders of Surrey for the provincial title Saturday afternoon.
“This is the first time since 1982, we believe, that VSS senior girls have gotten to the final,” said Bobby Mitchell, who co-coaches the Panthers with Lonny Mazurak.
“We are happy and going to enjoy this win but have to prepare for a tough Holy Cross team.”
VSS veteran Karley Fugel was clutch in the late going against Aquinas. Trailing by a point with three seconds to play, she coolly drained a pair of free throws for the winning points after she was fouled on an inbound pass. She finished with 15 points and 10 boards.
Vernon trailed for most of the fourth quarter until Quinsy Leier (15 points, 15 rebounds) drained a pair of free throws with two minutes remaining to tie the game. The Panthers went to a full-court zone press, causing an eight-second violation, which led to a Fugel jump hook to put Vernon up by a basket.
St. Thomas pulled even, but Fugel split a pair of free throws to put Vernon up by a point. The Saints retook the lead with 15 seconds remaining before Fugel secured the win from the charity stripe.
Jenna Marrion chipped in with nine points and four assists and Mary Rice added six points and nine rebounds.
“We are so proud of the girls for their success; they were very disciplined all week,” said Mitchell. “They trusted the game-plans in both games and went out and did their jobs.”
Vernon bounced the York House Tigers of Vancouver 51-40 in quarterfinal play Thursday afternoon. They built a 13-6 lead and never trailed after that, despite constant pressure from the Tigers.
Game MVP Megan Prentice scored all 10 VSS points in the second half, including seven in the final quarter. Leier supplied 12 points and 15 rebounds and Sage Blundell delivered nine points.
Vernon had four players finish with 10 or more rebounds.
“We stressed rebounding all season and we out rebounded these two teams 128-85,” said Mitchell.
Meanwhile, the Kalamalka Lakers battled the Abbey Christian Knights in the 13th-place game Saturday morning.
Kal wrapped up preliminary play with a 56-31 win over the Calendonia Kermodes of Terrace Friday morning.
Jordan Korol, with a game-high 19 points, and Ann Stewart, with 13, led the Laker attack.
