It’s not the medal round the College Heights Cougars were hoping to get to, but they will have a chance to play for fifth place at the 16-team B.C. triple-A girls high school basketball championship.
The Cougars needed a huge comeback in the fourth quarter to defeat the Valleyview Vikes of Kamloops 71-69 Friday afternoon in Langley. Trailing 60-45 heading into the fourth quarter, the Cougars started hitting their shots and reduced the deficit to 64-60 with still plenty of time on the clock.
“Valleyview is a team that’s played a lot of games this year, they’re well coached, and we battled and were close with them at the first half (down 20-15), but they pulled away by 15 points in the second half,” said Cougars head coach Wade Loukes.
“We had girls upset, crying on the bench, thinking we were going to lose, and we just came back. We got the lead with about 30 seconds left and won by two. It was just an awesome comeback.”
Rachel Loukes, who plays for the provincial U-18 team, led the Cougars offensively with 31 points. Sophia Fuller collected 13 points and Rebecca Fuentes hit for 11. College Heights posts Ainslee Rushton, with eight rebounds, and Harleen Ghuman, with seven, did their jobs controlling the boards.
“We have had a tough time shooting outside shots and Sophia Fuller and Rebecca Fuentes both hit very clutch shots, they both hit three three-pointers that were just the right moments to get the momentum going,” said coach Loukes.
“Rachel got fouled and hit some free throws at the end that bumped us up a couple points (into the lead) and we got rebounds and they kind of had to foul us. They had a fling at the end that was close but it was two-point win.”
College Heights will play Sa-Hali for Kamloops in the fifth-sixth-place game Saturday at 10 a.m.
“They’re a strong team, we played them a couple years ago and we saw them today and it will be a really tough game but it’s what we come down her for,” said Loukes. “To play for fifth and sixth is a great experience for the girls.”
The Cougars lost 93-49 Thursday to R.A. McMath, after opening with an 83-50 over John Oliver.
The Duchess Park Condors (0-2) will take on Salish tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the 15th-16th-place game. Earlier Friday the Condors lost 60-29 to the Carihi Tyees of Campbell River. Mataya Lyons, with 11 points, and Jeda Lobo, with eight, were the high shooters for Duchess Park.
Meanwhile, at the double-A championship, also in Langley, the Shas Ti Kelly Road Grizzlies are on the court trying for their first win. They’re playing Selkirk in the 15th-16th-place playoff.
The Grizzlies lost their morning matchup 63-49 to the A.R. McNeill Ravens. Breanna Day had 11 points in that game for Shas Ti Kelly Road. Breanna Skelly picked up 10 points and had 19 rebounds. Shila Rasoul scored 40 points for the Ravens.
At the junior A girls championship in Langley, the Duchess Park Condors are matched with Brookswood in a Friday evening game to determine 23rd and 24th place at the 32-team tournament.
Duchess Park dropped a 44-39 decision to Handsworth earlier Friday.
At the single-A girls championship in Kelowna, the Northside Christian Northstars of Vanderhoof advanced to the seventh-and-eighth-place playoff against Kelowna Christian Saturday at 2:30 p.m. The Northstars lost 65-57 Friday to Pacific Christian.
The Fort St. James Falcons defeated King David Lions 62-13 to move on to the 13-and-14th-place playoff at 10:45 a.m. Saturday against Khalsa Secondary Lions.
