It wasn’t the start the Maple Ridge secondary Lady Ramblers basketball were hoping for Wednesday night as they fell 53-40 to the Carson Graham Eagles in the opening round of the B.C. AAA high school basketball championships at Capilano University in North Vancouver.
The loss puts the Ramblers out of the running for the provincial title, as they can now only finish as high as seventh-place.
The Ramblers bounced back, however, trouncing Prince George secondary 71-39 in their second game of the tournament Thursday morning.
The Ramblers came out determined to put Wednesday’s loss behind them as they lit up Prince George for 48 points in the first half, taking a 33-point lead into the third quarter.
Grade 10 phenom Kolbie Orum led the Ramblers with 34 points and 15 rebounds, followed by Lauren Lamont with 14 points and seven rebounds. Coral Lee Antaya had 11 points.
The Ramblers shot 41 per cent from the field, a marked improvement over Wednesday game against Carson Graham, where they shot just 26 per cent.
Things started off sluggishly on Wednesday as the Ramblers struggled to find the basket, managing to score just five points in the opening quarter.
Down 9-5, Maple Ridge managed to keep pace with the Eagles for much of the second quarter but were unable to make up any ground and went into halftime down 22-18.
The Ramblers were down by five points late in the third when the Eagles surged on an 18-5 stretch to put the game out of reach that saw them go 9-for-11 from the field.
Orum had a game-high 24 points, while shooting 50 per cent from the field and going 6-for-7 from the line. However, the rest of the Ramblers managed to shoot 18 per cent from the field, and hit just four of 14 free throw attempts.
Marina Casol had nine points, while Lamont had seven points. Antaya led the team in rebounds with eight.
The Ramblers face Victoria’s Spectrum secondary today (Friday) at noon.
