The Duchess Park Condors got better with every tournament they played. The trend continued at provincials, where they finished a surprising fifth out of 16 teams.
At the senior girls basketball double-A championship, which wrapped up Saturday in Kamloops, the eighth-ranked Condors won three of their four games, including the one for fifth and sixth place against the York House Tigers of Vancouver. Duchess Park's only loss came at the hands of the eventual champion, the Holy Cross Crusaders of Surrey, who beat the Vernon Panthers 69-37 in the final.
Along with their impressive result at provincials, the Condors were chosen as the most sportsmanlike team.
"They were noticed down there because of their work and the way they played the game," Condors coach Bruce Ballantyne said of his players.
"I don't think they overachieved," he added. "They didn't play any differently than they had all year, in the sense that when they played well, they were awfully good. But they just got more and more consistent as the year went on."
After an opening-game 68-55 victory against the Notre Dame Jugglers of Vancouver, the Condors fell 72-37 to the Crusaders. After that, Duchess rolled to a 51-27 win against the Sa-Hali Sabres of Kamloops and then edged York House -- a traditional B.C. powerhouse -- 55-53 in their last outing. In that game, post player Alexis Schlick got to the free-throw line four times in the dying moments and drained three of her shots to clinch the victory. Offensively, guard Carly Shaw-MacLaren paced Duchess Park with 22 points.
The York House senior girls basketball program is so strong that its teams had played in the championship game in each of the last 12 years.
The undersized Condors achieved their provincial success through intelligence and intensity on defence and depth on offence. Whenever opposing teams tried to key on one player, somebody else in black and gold would step up and hit key shots.
"These are the best bunch of kids I've ever coached," Ballantyne said. "I've had great kids, but as a team these guys were friends on and off the court and absolutely supportive of each other."
When the classy Condors were announced as fifth-place finishers during the awards ceremony, tournament organizer Brian Peters had some memorable words for them.
"In front of a thousand people, he said, 'In fifth place, from the north -- and boy can these girls play basketball -- Duchess Park,'" Ballantyne recalled. "It was kind of cool because they played the game the right way and the one thing we always had was a real team approach."
Cassie Rerick, a point guard who will suit up for the UNBC Timberwolves next season, was chosen as an all-star for her contributions during the tournament.
"She was, by far, the smallest member of the [all-star] team but impressed everybody with her ball-handling, fearlessness, decision-making and defence," Ballantyne said.
Other members of the Condors are Celine Foucher, Emily Warkentin, Keanna Woidak, Sarah McKellar, Carlee Rerick and Carly Frenkel.
