Junior Girls Basketball
The SMUS Junior Girls Basketball team won its second tournament title in three weeks, beating Vancouver Argyle 58-46 in the championship game of the Charles Best Buckets 2024 event on Saturday.
Mikaela Dubé scored 23 points for the Junior Jags and was named player of the game in the final. Elspeth Rodger added 20 points while Linn Kuepper had 11 – nine of those coming during the 9-0 fourth-quarter SMUS run that sealed the game.
SMUS defeated New Westminster 63-36 in a semifinal played earlier Saturday, getting 21 points and seven steals from Rodger and 20 points and seven rebounds from Kuepper. Dubé, who was doing double-duty on the weekend also playing for the SMUS Seniors, contributed 16 points and 11 rebounds in the win.
The Blue Jags opened the tournament with a 68-11 victory over Seycove on Friday. Kuepper poured in 30 points in that win and also added five rebounds and five steals. Rodger turned in a 26-point, six-steal, seven-rebound effort for SMUS.
In Lower Island Junior Division 1 league action last Tuesday, SMUS beat Oak Bay 52-21. Rodger led the way in that one with 17 points while Dubé added 16.
The Junior Jags are an impressive 11-1 on the season heading into the holiday break. Their lone loss was a tight 47-45 decision to Riverside in the championship game of the Victoria Christmas Invitational tournament the previous weekend.
Senior Girls Basketball
The Senior Girls Basketball team had a busy week. Hosting their first league game of the season, the Blue Jags played in front of a packed house as students showed up to support the team.
“The energy was great and all of the players and coaches really appreciated the school spirit!” said Head Coach Lindsay Brooke.
SMUS jumped out to an 18-8 first-quarter lead before stretching it to a 32-16 halftime margin. Playing a smothering defence, the Blue Jags did well to contain a tough Claremont post presence. Offensively, Charlie Anderson led all scorers with 19 points, Avery Geddes added 18 and Mya Beare chipped in with six. Olivia Pickering pulled down eight rebounds to help the Jags power past the Spartans 55-40.
Then it was off to Langley for the Tsumura Basketball Invitational, a marquee tournament featuring all of the top teams from across the province. A tough opening round matchup saw the Blue Jags pitted against the Kelowna Owls. It was a see-saw battle for much of the game, with SMUS down 18-12 after the first quarter. Struggling to get their footing defensively, coupled with some rough luck around the rim and some uncharacteristic turnovers, the Blue Jags had a lacklustre fourth quarter resulting in a 57-56 loss. An early exit at the Tsumura to the consolation side of the draw was not what the team had hoped for.
However, the next three games ended with a different result, as the Blue Jags closed the tournament 3-0. Coquitlam’s Charles Best was the second-round matchup for SMUS. The Bulldogs are a physical squad and they battled the Blue Jags from start to finish. Despite some stone-cold shooting, SMUS knuckled down defensively for a 48-38 win. Defensive wizard Joss Olcen gave solid minutes to contain the Bulldog backcourt while the trio of Geddes, Anderson, and Isabela Herrera Orduna combined for 42 points.
Game No. 3 featured a matchup with the AA third-ranked Langley Christian Lightning. Pivoting strategies defensively to play a zone proved to be a solid manoeuvre as SMUS went with a big lineup. The twin towers of Mikaela Dubé and Pickering anchored some solid zone work (also netting 12 points, six boards and six points, eight boards, respectively). SMUS relied on some end-of-game heroics by the guard duo of Anderson and Geddes, who nailed a trio of late-clock threes to secure a 57-51 win.
In the final game of the tournament against Okanagan Mission, a AAAA school out of Kelowna, SMUS looked to have regained some polish. Operating effectively on defence with Olcen again factoring in as a defensive stopper, and employing a solid inside-out attack against a 2-3 zone, the Senior Jags were in control much of the game en route to a 52-44 win. Herrera Orduna was deadly with her quick inside attacks and Pickering added several good weakside steals that led to easy buckets.
Overall, it was a solid result for the Blue Jags, who now prepare to travel to Riverside for the Tournament for Emily beginning Wednesday in Port Coquitlam.
Senior Boys Basketball
It was a short-handed but nonetheless positive weekend for the Senior Boys Basketball team as it travelled to North Vancouver for the No Regrets Tournament.
The Blue Jags were facing a daunting task – down key players Dani Pelyhe, Zaki Pelyhe and Jaiden Daniels due to holiday vacations and up against the AAAA Handsworth Royals on their homecourt in Friday’s opener. In front of several hundred fans in an electric atmosphere, SMUS battled hard and led by three points at the half.
Guard Davis Hardy played extremely well in the first half with 18 points but was knocked out of the game by an elbow to the eye in the second half. In addition, guard Victor Lee was lost to a sprained ankle. SMUS trailed by three points after three quarters before the Royals pulled away for an 81-66 win. Blue Jags’ forward Elliot Mairet was a standout in the loss with 16 points while Wil Woods added 10.
That put the Blue Jags on the consolation side of the bracket, where they faced the Mulgrave Titans on Friday. After trailing by 14 at the half, SMUS roared back for a 56-55 win. Woods powered the win with a 28-point performance, including three fourth-quarter threes. Fellow guard Jack Driscoll added a pair of threes in the final period and Mairet had a 14-point outing.
The win moved SMUS into a final-day matchup against the AAAA Mount Boucier Bears of Kelowna. Driscoll scored 17 points in that game while backcourt mate Parker Sheehan added 12 points on four three-pointers.
In their only league game last week, the Blue Jags beat the Panthers 86-35 at Parkland behind a 29-point performance from Brody Harris. Mairet added 12 points in the win while Daniels had 11.
The Senior Blue Jags’ next action will be December 28 to 30 when they host a series of high-quality exhibition games involving SMUS, Oak Bay, Kelowna, Vancouver College, Lambrick Park, Quw’utsun and De La Salle North Catholic of Portland.
Junior Boys Basketball
The SMUS Junior Boys Basketball team picked up an important Lower Island Division 1 victory last week, sandwiched between two losses to more experienced, bigger teams.
The Junior Jags got 17 points from Aaron Williamson, 15 from Alex MacKay, 11 from Carter Muise and 10 from Manav Kang as they defeated Reynolds 53-44 at home on Wednesday, improving their league record to 2-2 heading into the Christmas break.
That win followed a disappointing 59-53 league loss to then-undefeated Edward Milne on Tuesday. The Blue Jags led the visitors by eight points midway through the fourth quarter, but a series of poor decisions, turnovers and missed boxouts on the boards allowed the visiting Wolverines to escape with the victory. Kang and MacKay each scored 13 points in the loss while Henry Lake turned in 10 points and a strong performance on the boards against the beefy Wolverine forwards.
Down to eight players due to holidays, sickness and injuries, the Junior Boys were up against a tough challenge on Saturday as they faced defending provincial champion and perennial power Terry Fox of Coquitlam in an exhibition game. The young Blue Jags fell 71-41 but acquitted themselves well against the Ravens’ physicality and full-court pressure, particularly in the second half.
Sharpshooter Ming Tsang had his best game of the season with 14 points, including four threes and also handled the ball well against the Ravens’ pressure. Kang was also steady with the ball and added 10 points in the loss. All of the Blue Jags who dressed played significant minutes in the game and took away some valuable lessons from the experience.
The Junior Boys will conclude the 2024 portion of their schedule by playing in the annual Gary Taylor Classic at Oak Bay this weekend. Their first game is a 2:30 pm tip-off on Thursday against Pacific Academy of Surrey.
Junior ‘B’ Boys Basketball
The SMUS Junior B boys split a pair of Lower Island Division 2 games last week.
The Junior B Jags earned a 53-28 road win over Edward Milne at the Wolverines’ Den in Sooke last Monday. Kieran MacKay, Ruibo Wu and Azaad Gill led SMUS offensively in that game.
SMUS fell by double digits to visiting Vic High on Thursday afternoon – the team’s first loss of the season against two wins. Gill led the Blue Jags with 13 points in the defeat.
Rugby
Nine SMUS student-athletes were part of a Castaway Wanderers team that captured the U18 BC Rugby Championship recently at Starlight Stadium in Langford. The local side defeated the UBC Old Boys Ravens in the provincial final on December 8.
The final featured high-quality rugby and was a back-and-forth, hard fought match. Castaway Wanderers led at the break but fell behind in the second half. They rallied in the last few minutes, scoring two tries to pull ahead for the win. The Ravens had been undefeated for the previous four years, so this was a significant achievement for Castaway Wanderers.
SMUS students who were part of the championship team included Desmond Grant, Jack Driscoll, Markus Djurickovic, Henry Williamson, Sky Tanphiphat, Declan Longridge, Nicholas Lee, Ewan Webber-Smith, and Stephen He.
SMUS Athletes of the Month
Volleyball stars Charlie Anderson and Connor Kipling and soccer standout Marcus Lam were recently honoured as SMUS Athletes of the Month for November.
Lam was co-captain of the Senior Boys Soccer team, leading the Blue Jags from his centre back spot to a second-place finish on the Island and a berth in the BC AA tournament. A vocal leader, the Grade 12 helped to motivate his team, raising the intensity level in both games and practices.
Anderson was a triple threat for the Senior Girls Volleyball team in her Grade 12 season, helping the Blue Jags finish second on the Island and reach the BC AA tournament. She was a vital part of both the Blue Jags’ defensive and offensive systems and her driving float serve consistently gave opponents trouble.
Kipling was the captain of the SMUS Senior Boys Volleyball team. The Grade 12 setter’s dedication and skill were the backbone of the team’s success as it narrowly missed out on a berth in the BC tournament with a fourth-place Island finish. Kipling orchestrated the SMUS offence with great precision and court awareness.
