Superball always rings in the new year on the Nanaimo high school basketball scene, and local teams are starting 2020 on good footing.
The Wellington Wildcats senior girls and senior boys both reached the tournament final in their long-running tourney, with the Wellington girls winning Superball this year.
The Wildcats girls defeated the Stelly’s Stingers 44-25 in Saturday’s final.
Madeline Van Bruggen, who scored 20 points and was chosen tournament MVP, said it was “amazing” for Wellington to be able to win Superball.
“The thing that made us win, throughout the whole tournament, not just this game, would be our defence,” she said. “We’re definitely a defensive team. I think that’s something we can improve on – also our offence – but we just really worked well as a team today and that’s what brought us on top.”
Jenna Rodway added 10 points for Wellington.
Van Bruggen said the win will help the team, which she said could be positioned to have playoff success.
“I think so,” she said. “If we keep our intensity like this game, we’re going to keep on improving.”
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Wellington Wildcats senior girls just won the Superball tournament final in their home gym, defeating Stelly’s 44-25. Next up is the senior boys’ final, Wellington vs. Ladysmith, starting in 5 mins… pic.twitter.com/UeOf1ryyXW
— Greg Sakaki (@BulletinSports) January 12, 2020
Earlier in the tourney, Wellington’s girls defeated Shawnigan 59-46 and beat Dover Bay 43-25. In the Shawnigan game, Van Bruggen scored 18 and Maddy Paugh had 14 and against Dover, Van Bruggen scored 12 and Rodway had 11.
Dover’s girls defeated Shawnigan 51-47 and doubled up Spectrum 52-26.
Wellington’s senior boys, meanwhile, lost to the Ladysmith 49ers in Saturday’s tournament final. The Wildcats boys reached the final by beating Brooks 60-49 and defeating Parkland 68-55. Against Brooks, Owen Rains scored 26 and Emil Carmona scored 14. Versus Parkland, Rains scored 17 and Ethan Vichert scored 15.
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