They didn't come home empty-handed.
In their final game at the triple-A girls high school basketball provincial championship tournament, the PGSS Polars picked up their first victory. They battled back to beat the Mount Baker Wild of Cranbrook 60-53 and, to top that off, were later chosen as the event's most sportsmanlike team.
"It was really good to finish off with a win," said PGSS coach Ray Bourque. "They [the Wild] were a very aggressive team. Every two minutes, their coach would roll five new girls in and it was full-court, double-team or triple-team pressure the whole game. We tried to outrun them and we did it in the third quarter."
In the third, the Polars outscored the Wild 22-11 and that was enough to lift them to victory. Four PGSS players finished in double digits for scoring, led by Mavia Nijjer with 19. The other offensive weapons for the Polars were Danielle Billings (11 points), Kelsey Videgain (11 points) and Issy Bourque (10 points).
PGSS placed 15th in a 16-team field.
In their other games, the Polars lost 84-28 to Brookswood of Langley, fell 74-57 to New Westminster and were beaten 83-52 by Kelowna.
The tournament was held at Capilano University in North Vancouver. In Saturday night's gold-medal game, South Kamloops edged Vancouver's York House 65-61.
The Polars should be strong next season because four of their five starters from this year will be eligible to return.
Condors impress at provincials
The Duchess Park Condors, who spent the whole season ranked outside of the top 10 teams in B.C., finished eighth at the double-A boys high school basketball provincials in Kamloops.
And they did it with a memorable win.
In their last game, for eighth and 10th place, the Condors beat St. Michaels University School of Victoria 77-70 in overtime. In the extra session, Duchess outscored St. Michaels 13-6 to secure the victory. The Condors got a game-high 20 points from Nathanial Pawluk and 11 each out of the hands of Nikola Knezevic and Luke Holmes.
Overall, Duchess posted a 2-2 record. The Condors started with an 83-78 win against South Okanagan of Oliver and then lost 66-60 to a powerhouse Mission squad that went on to claim B.C. gold. In their third game, the Condors fell 68-55 to King George of Vancouver.
In Saturday's final, Mission downed St. Thomas More of Burnaby 70-56.
Pawluk received an honourable mention as an all-star.
In the girls division, the zone champion Nechako Valley Viqueens posted a 1-3 record and finished 14th. Vancouver's Britannia beat Lambrick Park of Victoria 69-61 in the championship game.
At the single-A boys provincials in Langley, the 15th-ranked Cedars Christian Eagles lost all four of their games and finished 16th. Their best result was an agonizing 67-66 loss to 10th-seeded Bella Bella.
Kelowna Christian downed St. Ann Academy of Kamloops 72-55 in the final.
