The Duchess Park Condors didn't let a tough start at provincials drag them down.
At the junior girls high school basketball championship, held in Abbotsford on the weekend, the Condors lost their first two games but won their last two and placed 13th in a 16-team field.
Duchess, 15th in the pre-tournament rankings, met No. 2 Riverside in its opening game and fell 66-25. The Condors then played 10th-seeded Maple Ridge and dropped a 48-37 decision.
The Duchess Park girls were finally rewarded for their efforts when they edged 14th-ranked Jaffray 46-44. In their last game, the Condors kept their momentum rolling and defeated No. 16 Prince Rupert 60-29.
The PGSS Polars, who beat the Condors for the north central zone title, were also at the B.C. tournament. The hard-luck Polars went 0-4, with two of their losses coming in overtime.
The 13th-ranked Polars started provincials with a 43-22 setback to Victoria's Oak Bay, the No. 4 seed.
Overtime heartbreak, multiplied by two, was next for the Polars. They lost 41-37 to 12th-seeded St. Thomas More of Burnaby and then fell 45-41 to Prince Rupert. Against St. Thomas More, PGSS had an opportunity for a winning bucket with five seconds left in regulation time but couldn't get the ball to drop. Against Prince Rupert, PGSS starters Olivia Letendre and Kelsey Videgain suffered early ankle injuries and were forced to watch from the bench.
In their final outing, the Polars played Jaffray and lost another close one, 45-40. Letendre was unavailable for duty, while Videgain played but was slowed by her ankle problem.
On the bright side for the Polars, they were picked as the tournament's most sportsmanlike team.
"That was a real tribute to the team spirit they showed all year," said PGSS coach Ray Bourque.
