It was a tough game for the Falcons Senior Girls Basketball team against Cedars Christian School Eagles in the zone final on Feb. 23.
The North Central Single A Zone Championships were hosted in Fort St. James over three days and saw teams from as far away as Bella Coola, Burns Lake, Fort Nelson and Valemount, in one of the largest geographic zones in the province.
While Cedars had a strong defence and a team of significantly larger players, Falcons Coach Suzanne Burck was still happy with her team’s effort in taking second place overall.
“I was proud of the girls, they didn’t give up,” she said.
The final score was 86-32 in Cedars favour, but the Falcons have still secured a spot in the Provincial Single A Championships at UNBC in Prince George March 6-9.
While it had been about 19 years since a Fort St. James team had made it to the Provincials, this is the second year in a row Burck has taken a team, and only three of the players are return players.
Burke said it will be good to be taking such a young team to the Provincials this year so they can see what it is like to play at the provincial level, which can be a much more aggressive ball game.
The Falcons will be going into the Provincials seeded 11th out of 16 teams, and Burck hopes the team can maintain their ranking or do better.
Falcons guard Renée Colthorp was awarded one of the First Team Allstars during the zones tournament, and Carmen Bennison was awarded one of the Second Team Allstars.
Fraser Lake Cougars also secured a spot in the Provincials, in what was a bit of an upset. The Cougars came into the tournament seeded in fourth spot, behind Mountain Christian Rams.
