Within B.C. borders, the Nechako Valley Viqueens are expected to pillage and plunder. The rival D.P. Todd Trojans were among their first victims.
Saturday night at D.P. Todd, the Viqueens and Trojans met in the final of the Northern Classic, the first senior girls basketball tournament of the year. At times, the Trojans showed they could stick with the Viqueens but they were eventually worn down by the skill and court smarts of their opponent. The final score favoured Nechako Valley, 65-45.
The Viqueens, from Vanderhoof, entered the tournament as the No. 3 team in the provincial double-A rankings. At last year's B.C. championship tournament, they finished fourth, two spots ahead of the Trojans.
"Early games in the year, you can't put too much stock into them," said Viqueens coach Joel Mueller. "I think at the end of the year it will be us and D.P. Todd fighting it out again, just like the last couple years. It's a good rivalry. We both want to beat each other."
The Viqueens have five players back in uniform from 2009-10. The Trojans have eight returnees and occupy an honourable mention spot on the provincial list.
In Saturday's game, the Viqueens sprinted out to a 10-0 lead. But, then the Trojans showed their mettle by scoring the next 11 points. At the end of the first half, the Viqueens were up 31-26.
When the Viqueens came out for the third quarter, they took the game away from their hosts. In the early stages of the quarter, they outscored D.P. Todd 14-3. The Nechako Valley outburst was sparked by a tenacious zone defence the Trojans couldn't penetrate. D.P. Todd was instead forced to take tough shots and also started throwing the ball away. The Viqueens turned D.P. Todd's troubles into points at the other end of the court.
"I think after half we kind of died down," said Danielle Steel, a Grade 12 D.P. Todd point guard who has played in the Team B.C. program. "We weren't playing as hard as we could have, but they're a tough team. They're ranked No. 3. Considering it was our first game (against them) we've just got to learn from our mistakes and hope for better next time."
Trojans coach Reid Roberts said his team "had flashes of brilliance" but ultimately made too many mistakes.
"Once we got into a rhythm we were fine but, the problem is, you have a couple breakdowns and a team like that will capitalize," he said. "It just felt like we were digging ourselves out of a hole the entire time."
Individual point totals were not recorded on the score sheet.
In the bronze-medal game, the Houston Christian Wildcats got 42 points from six-foot-five Team B.C. player Ruth Hamblin and beat the College Heights Cougars 65-44. Sydney Hall scored 25 for the Cougars.
In the semifinal round, the Viqueens beat the Cougars 67-38 and the Trojans got past Houston Christian 66-56. Houston Christian is ranked No. 2 in the provincial single-A division.
Senior girls and senior boys teams will be in action Thursday and Friday at Duchess Park, site of the annual Condor Classic. Games will start at 4 p.m. on Thursday.
Girls teams entered are Duchess, Nechako Valley, D.P. Todd and PGSS. The boys side features Duchess, College Heights, PGSS and D.P. Todd.
