The PGSS Polars senior girls basketball squad have booked their ticket to the B.C. High School provincial championship for the seventh-straight season.
The Polars defeated the visiting North Peace 74-46 in Saturday's final of the triple-A North Central zone playdowns at PGSS to qualify for the B.C. finals.
"We controlled the game right from the beginning," said PGSS head coach Ray Bourque of the zone final. "We led 26-8 at half-time. Jenny [Stern] had 17 points and we had three other players who had 12 points, so it was a good, balanced attack."
Allyson Knight countered with 17 points for North Peace from Fort St. John.
The Polars advanced to Saturday's final when they downed Lake City from Williams Lake 57-48 Friday. Issy Bourque netted 24 points and Stern added another 11 points. Montana Reid answered for Lake City with 12 points.
North Peace edged Lake City 54-52 in the other semifinal.
PGSS opened the double-knockout format zones with a 42-29 victory over Quesnel's Correlieu on Friday. Olivia Letendre netted 20 points and Amy Crossan followed with eight for the Polars.
Tournament all-stars included Kelsey Videgain, Letendre from PGSS, Becky Hedges and Stacey Hansen from North Peace, and Montana Reid from Lake City.
Polars Issy Bourque was selected the most valuable player, and Crossan was named best defensive player.
The Polars, comprised of a majority of Grade 11 players and three Grade 12s, leave early next week for the 16-team triple-A Senior Girls provincials in Langley March 5-8.
Last year, PGSS knocked off the No. 8 and 10 seeds to finish 11th overall, their best placing in the school's history since the 1972 team won bronze.
"It's all about enjoying the experience," coach Bourque said. "The team is healthy and conditioning is the biggest thing. We'll work out the kinks [in practice] to try to keep in mid-season form and do some team building away from the court."
PGSS senior boys kept pace with the senior girls when they also qualified for provincials on Saturday.
The Polars shut out Correlieu secondary in a best-of-two-game series in Quesnel in the quadruple-A North Central Zone playdowns.
PGSS won the first game 67-63 and the second game by 40 points.
TJ Gill of PGSS was named the tournament MVP, scoring 25 points in the first game and 23 in the second game.
"They were triple-teaming Tyrell [Laing], but he had 14 or 15 assists in each game," said PGSS head coach Nav Parmar. "He did a great job of finding open guys and the other guys took advantage of it.
"I'm extremely proud of the the boys and it's a confidence builder."
The Polars will compete in the quadruple-A B.C. High School Championship in Langley March 12-15.
PGSS, a young team comprised mostly of Grade 10 players, including Laing, will await to see where they're ranked at the 16-team tournament. It will feature some of best high school teams in the province.
"I'm pretty happy for them, they're so excited," said Parmar. "It's the experience of going to this tournament, they're so young. We're looking forward to playing that level."
The Polars will enjoy the next two weeks of solid practices and ensure everyone is healthy prior to departing for the Lower Mainland.
