Castlegar News Staff
Nelson’s L.V. Rogers Secondary advanced to the senior girls AA provincials after steamrolling the competition at the zone championship this weekend at Stanley Humphries.
Five games were played Friday and Saturday to determine who would represent the region at the provincials, March 4 to 7 in Langley.
Five teams were represented at the championship: Selkirk Secondary of Kimberley, David Thompson Secondary of Invermere, J.L. Crowe of Trail, L.V. Rogers and host Stanley Humphries.
Stanley Humphries coach Kim Matson said aside from convincing wins by Nelson’s team, the point spread in the remaining games was six points or less, which lead to some exciting games.
Though Stanley Humphries came fifth in the playoffs, they finished their season on a high, as individually they gave an outstanding effort and played extremely well as a team, Matson said.
Despite their home gym being unavailable due to a recent washroom fire at Stanley Humphries, the girls team found other gyms to keep practicing in.
On Friday, Stanely Humprhies lost to Kimberley by only three points, while last weekend the spread was 26 points.
Svetlana Hadikin pitched in for 10 points and controlled the boards, while Rachael teBulte scored nine points and ran the point effectively.
In previous games against Crowe, Stanley Humphries lost by 25 points or more. On Saturday the Castlegar squad surprised their Crowe opponent by coming out strong and putting up a substantial challenge.
The score was back and forth the whole first half. In the last quarter Crowe pulled away to gain a 12 point lead, but Stanley Humphries closed the gap with full court pressure and outstanding free throw shooting.
With less than a minute to go in the game the girls pulled to within one basket. One of the other coaches commented to Matson at the end of the game “Your team has really improved.”
“It was awesome to see our two Grade 12s play so well in their last game of the year,” Matson said.
Hadikin scored 19 points and was a dominant rebounding force while teBulte scored 18 points and “shredded Crowe’s full court press,” Matson said.
“Overall the team played their best basketball to date and I couldn’t be prouder of the girls.”
