Langley Christian player Makenna Gardner was a standout at the 37th annual Top-10 Shootout that brought top high school girls basketball teams to the event hosted by Centennial school in Coquitlam.
After three days of competition ended Saturday (Jan. 18), Langley Christian finished fourth, with Gardner named one of the first team all-stars.
One of the tournament organizers, Larry Moro, watched Gardner in action as she ran up 28 points during a 93-52 win over Tweedsmuir, 20 during a 68-46 win over Terry Fox and contributed 10 points to a come-from-behind 55-49 win against rival Langley team, the Brookwood Bobcats.
“She (Gardner) was just lights-out with her shots,” Moro told the Langley Advance Times.
“Obviously a very talented player.”
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Gardner is winding up her career as a high school player and preparing to play for Simon Fraser University.
SFU women’s basketball head coach Bruce Langford announced the freshman will join his class of 2020, with the 5’10 point guard/shooting guard joining the team in the fall.
Brookswood player Mackenzie Cox was named to the second team all-stars.
No. 1 ranked Semiahmoo Totems of Surrey took first, a team Moro described as “head and shoulders” above their competition.
Abbotsford Panthers were second and Riverside Rapids from Port Coquitlam were third.
Terry Fox finished fifth, Lord Tweedsmuir was sixth, Brookswood seventh, Valleyview eighth and Claremont ninth.
Originally 12 teams were set to play in the annual contest, but when the weather turned bad, there were some no-shows, which forced a last-minute rearrangement of the tournament schedule.
“Three teams dropped out when we had the snow day on Wednesday,” Moro related.
There was some concern that still others, like Valleyview from Kamloops, might drop out as well, but that team, and the other eight, managed to make the trip.
