With the score tied at 18 at halftime, coach Ivan Adrian had a simple message for his team: no one was going hand his team the district championship trophy just because they were expected to win.
“I told the kids they had to want to win,” Adrian said, following Brookswood’s 47-34 victory over the Walnut Grove Gators. “Teams aren’t going to roll over.
“It became gut check time.”
The two teams were playing in the Grade 8 girls’ Langley district championship game on Thursday afternoon at the Langley Events Centre.
The Bobcats have long dominated girls’ basketball in Langley and Thursday’s title was 14th consecutive for Brookswood.
“The message for the kids is Brookswood is expected to win,” Adrian said. “The pressure is there; you have to live up to the expectations.”
During league play, Brookswood was a perfect 8-0, with an average margin of victory of 30 points. The Bobcats lone single digit victory was against the Gators, 45-37.
And for the first half, Walnut Grove matched Brookswood point for point.
The three keys he needed his team to do was out-rebound the Gators, cut down on the turnovers and attack on offence to set the tone. And Brookswood was able to focus on those in the second half, stretching their lead to 33-26 after three quarters and then the final 13-point victory.
Ruth Babao led the ’Cats with 11 points, while Audrey Periera, Maggie McFetridge and Hannah Loewen each had seven.
Cassie Stea led the Gators with nine points.
The Fraser Valley regional championships get underway Tuesday (Feb. 22).
Brookswood is seeded third out of the 32 teams and hosts the Sands Scorpions at 3 p.m.
Walnut Grove faces Lord Tweedsmuir at the Khalsa School in Surrey; Langley Christian plays at Maple Ridge and H.D. Stafford plays at Holy Cross.
