LANGLEY — Reid Roberts knew the lull was coming, but when his Duchess Park Condors went cold from the field to open the third quarter of their Triple A senior girls quarterfinal on Thursday, he was almost powerless to prevent it.
After taking a 37-26 halftime lead over Mark. R. Isfeld, the Condors could muster just three free throws through the first eight minutes of the third quarter and the Ice went on a 17-3 run to build a 43-40 lead.
Could an upset, the first of the triple-A tournament, be in the offing?
Not on this night.
“We have a bad habit of dropping off in the third quarter,” said Roberts after his team fought back for a nail-biting 62-59 victory. “It’s been a nemesis of ours all year. It’s just one of those things.
“I hate halftime. You get that chance to relax and I don’t know if they get overconfident or lose focus. But they tend to come out flat.”
Fortunately for the No. 3 seed Condors, they found their game late in the quarter. Grade 12 guard Mercedes Black hit a three-pointer with 1:52 left in the third and, after Zahra Ngabo drained a couple of free throws, Black converted a driving layup as the buzzer sounded on a sublime assist from Ngabo.
“Mercedes was kind of struggling all game to hit,” said Roberts. “She tends to do that. She’ll keep shooting, though, and she’ll get ya right at the end when it counts.”
The game stayed tight through a hotly contested fourth quarter and was tied at 53 with 3:22 remaining.
Black, who had 10 points on the night, made it 56-53 with another three-pointer only to see the Ice tie it up again when the Jonel Follis made three free throws after being fouled on a free-throw attempt.
An offensive rebound put back by Emily Clarke and a terrific drive to the basket by Ngabo where she converted an off-balance layup made it 60-59 for Duchess Park. Then after a couple of turnovers by the Ice, the Condors Devyn Bjorn stepped to the line with 2.2 seconds left and calmly dropped a pair of free throws to clinch the win.
“I’m confident in my free throws,” said Bjorn, who led the Condors with 14 points. “I practice them a lot. I just take a deep breath and stick to my routine.”
Elena Russell led the Ice with 21 points, including five makes from beyond the arc
Roberts is confident his squad is in a good position as it heads into a semifinal matchup Friday at 5 p.m. with No. 2 seed Sa-Hali, a 63-47 winner over Robert Bateman.
“We’ve been down here two years as juniors with this group, then two years as seniors. So we’ve got lots of experience being down here. We’ve played Sa-Hali once this year, at their tournament. They beat us by 12, so it’s a tough matchup, but the girls will be ready to go.”
Just so long as they can overcome the third-quarter doldrums.
Vernon Panthers will take on MEI Eagles of Abbotsford in the other semifinal at 3:15 p.m. on Friday,. The Panthers defeated the College Heights Cougars 51-46 in a quarterfinal playuoff Thursday (see other story on Citizen website).
Meanwhile, on the single-A girls basketball court in Langley, the Cedars Christian Eagles were eliminated from provincial title contention Thursday.
The Eagles lost 62-37 to Credo Christian Kodiaks of Langley in a quarterfinal.
Kenzie Rapp scored 21 points and Presley Kobes had 15 points to lead the Kodiaks.
Colby Konig was the high scorer for Cedars with 17 points, while Paige Kinoch had eight and Mila Johnson finished with six.
The sixth-seeded Eagles will play No. 7 Ucluelet Warriors Friday at 1:30 p.m,. for the right to play in the fifth-place playoff Saturday at 8:30 a.m.
The Fort St. James Falcons (0-1) will be back on the court Friday at 10:15 a.m. to face John Knox Christian Hawks of New Westminster. The winner of that will play 13th place Saturday at 8:30 a.m.
In the double-A girls tournament, the 15th seeded Nechako Valley Vikings (0-1) will face No. 15 Fernie Falcons Friday 8:30 a.m. The winner will play in the batrtle for 13th place Saturday at noon.
In the double-A semifinals Friday, No. 1 Holy Cross plays No. 4 St. Thomas More Collegiate at 6:45 p.m., followed at 8 p.m. by No. 3 St. Michaels University School taking on No. 6 Britannia.
