Piper Hoekstra's season ended in disappointment when she sprained her ankle in the warmup of the opening game for the D.P. Todd Trojans in the provincial girls double-A basketball tournament in Kamloops.
Or so she thought.
The Grade 12 forward has been invited along with Trojan guard Jamie Macfarlane to play Saturday in the B.C. girls provincial all-star game at UBC in Burnaby.
"It's a great opportunity and it's an honour, something the north doesn't usually get recognized for," said Hoekstra, who led the Trojans in scoring this season. "It's nice that this is happening because it's kind of a second chance to end my high school basketball on a high note.
"Provincials was a horrible experience for myself as an individual, but the team played really well. Jamie had an amazing tournament. She averaged 20 or 21 point a game and her performance at provincials is what got her to the all-star game. She totally deserves this opportunity."
In all his years of coaching, Reid Roberts could not recall any high basketball players from the north being invited to the B.C. all-star game and this year two of his players made the grade. Brett Westcott, the athletic director at York House, the provincial double-A champions, helped select the team.
"It's a fantastic reward for them and I was shocked to get the email but I was pretty excited to tell them because they were even more surprised," said Roberts. "We didn't finish well, but Jamie had such a great provincial tournament. She had four great games and she was really deserving of a tournament all-star [but didn't get picked], so for Jamie this is a bit of redemption that she did finally got recognized.
"For Piper, it's recognition of what she did for us all season. She didn't have a great provincials because of a sprained ankle but she was one of my most consistent solid players from start to finish. [Westcott] is the girls double-A rep and he does the rankings and he consistently saw Piper's name every game as the high scorer or the second or third top scorer every time I sent results in, so I'm sure that helped."
The two Trojans will suit up for the single-A/double-A all-star team, which will play a team of the best triple-A players Saturday afternoon. Michelle Schmidt of the Nechako Valley Viqueens of Vanderhoof was also picked for the single-A/double-A squad.
"We have one girl from a triple-A team on our team but the rest of the team is single-A and double-A against a triple-A team," said Hoekstra. "In a way it's good because I know a lot of the double-A girls and I know how they play, but at the same time, triple-A is such a higher competitive division. So in a way, it's not really fair because every year I hear the triple-A team wins."
Hoekstra is hoping to get into UBC's finance program next fall on an academic scholarship but did attend a tryout for UNBC last weekend. If UBC fails to pan out, she could end up in a Northern Timberwolves uniform next season. Macfarlane, a Grade 12 guard, auditioned for the Grande Prairie Wolves and could be bound for the Alberta college ranks in 2011-12.
