The Wellington Wildcats won both the city’s feature basketball games on Tuesday.
A pair of all-Nanaimo high school basketball matchups saw the Wildcats girls defeat the Woodlands Eagles 62-51 at the Woodlands Secondary School gym, and the ’Cats boys then handled the Cedar Spartans 67-52 at Wellington Secondary School.
The senior AA girls’ game drew one of the best high school basketball crowds of the season and the fans were treated to a game that was close most of the way.
Taelar Keir, Wildcats player, said her team communicated better in the second half.
Wellington was led by Sara Simovic, who scored 25 points, and Woodlands’ top scorer was Ksenia Malenica who dropped in 14.
In Wellington’s senior boys’ game, the home team was missing a couple of top players but had plenty of other guys step up.
“We finally played good against the zone. We’ve struggled against that,” said Cole Musto, Wildcats player. “We passed the ball around nice today.”
Musto had 12 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists to lead his team and Elijah Thornton scored 10 points. For Cedar, Brendan McCarthy scored a game-high 22 and Jake Crow added 10.
Also in Nanaimo on Tuesday, the Woodlands senior AA boys fell 79-68 to the Ladysmith 49ers. Bryson Cox scored 30 points, Connor Robertson scored 14 and Erik Van Waes added 12.
In out-of-town action, the Dover Bay Dolphins ran roughshod over the Alberni Armada 76-24. Brandon Kumar scored 18 points, Jon Bethell had 14 and Spencer Hiemstra had 10.
“It was well-rounded,” said Reid Fralick, coach of the Dover boys. “Everybody played lots and did well.”
GAME ON … The Dover Bay Secondary School gym hosts a doubleheader tonight (Feb. 9), with the senior AAA girls hosting the Cowichan Thunderbirds at 5:30 p.m. followed by a senior AAA boys’ game between Dover and G.P. Vanier at 7 p.m.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com
