You can only hope to contain Aislinn Konig and the Brookswood Bobcats senior girls basketball team, and the MEI Eagles did a better job than anyone else at the Eagles Invitational tournament on Saturday.
Konig, a North Carolina State Wolfpack recruit, was dominant against the Eagles in Saturday’s tournament final, but MEI held the Bobcats to 74 points – the lowest offensive total of the tournament for the provincially ranked number two Langley squad.
The Bobcats set the tone early, jumping out to a 11-0 lead, and the Eagles never recovered. MEI trailed 42-14 at the half, but head coach Samantha Hawkes was pleased with her young team’s efforts against Brookswood and their tournament overall.
“We set a defensive goal to keep them under 80 points and they scored 74,” she said, of the 74-33 final score. “Our main focus really was to try and lower their scoring average.”
Brookswood advanced to the tournament final with 104-48 win over Vernon on Friday and a 96-56 win over Kelowna on Saturday morning. The Eagles posted a 59-43 win over South Kamloops on Friday and a 66-50 win over Handsworth on Saturday morning.
Eagles guard Taylor Cousins led the way with 13 points in Friday’s game, and Hawkes said she and Julia Weiss were key parts to the team’s success.
“They stepped up big for us, especially against Handsworth,” she said. “They’re our leaders and most experienced players and we need that as a young team.”
Hawkes said the win against Handsworth was huge, as the Royals are ranked ninth in the province and the Eagles were an honourable mention heading into this weekend.
“We feel a lot more legitimate because we beat a top-ten team and we proved we can compete with the best in the province,” she said.
For more on the tournament, read Wednesday’s print edition of The Abbotsford News.
