Senior Girls Basketball
The SMUS Senior Girls Basketball team will play host to the eight-team Vancouver Island AA Championship tournament this week. The Blue Jags will take on John Barsby of Nanaimo in their first game of the tournament at 7:15 pm on Thursday in the SMUS Single Gym.
The Island tournament, which also includes, Gulf Islands, Glenlyon Norfolk School, Lambrick Park, Brooks of Powell River, Brentwood College and Ladysmith, will continue until the championship game, which tips off at 7 pm on Saturday.
The Blue Jags, who have been the top-ranked AA team in BC for most of the season, are looking to capture their fifth straight Island title. Three teams from the Island tournament will advance to the BC AA Championship tournament, Feb. 26 to March 1 at the Langley Events Centre.
In their only action last week, the Blue Jags capped off their Lower Island regular season with a 59-49 win at Lambrick Park. Point guard Avery Geddes led SMUS with 29 points, five rebounds and four steals while backcourt mate Charlie Anderson added 14 points, eight rebounds and five steals. Forward Olivia Pickering pulled down 13 rebounds.
Junior Girls Basketball
The SMUS Junior Girls Basketball team will also play host to this week’s Vancouver Island Championship tournament as the Lower Island No. 2 seed, after reaching the championship game of the Lower Island playoffs this past weekend.
Down to just seven players due to injury and absence and missing key starter Elspeth Rodger, the Junior Jags fell 48-45 to Oak Bay in a hard-fought Lower Island final on Saturday at Claremont. SMUS guard Linn Kuepper, who scored 27 points in the final, was selected as a tournament all-star as was Blue Jags teammate Mikaela Dubé, who scored 12 points.
As the top team in Lower Island league regular-season play, the Junior Jags received a bye into Friday’s Lower Island semifinal, which they hosted. SMUS dispatched Claremont 49-24 in that game, led by Kuepper’s 21-point performance and 17 from Dubé.
The SMUS Junior Girls, ranked No. 5 among BC Junior teams, will face Brentwood College (Central Island 1) in the opening round of the Island tournament on Friday in the Single Gym, tipping off at 9:30 am.
The top three Island teams will advance to the BC Junior Girls Championship tournament Feb. 21-23 in Chilliwack.
Senior Boys Basketball
The Senior Boys Basketball team played just once last week as it focused on preparations for this week’s Lower Island AA championship game against rival Lambrick Park.
The Blue Jags will meet Lambrick at 5:30 pm on Wednesday in a game being played at the University of Victoria’s CARSA facility. The AA title game will be part of a much-anticipated doubleheader that will also feature the AAAA Lower Island championship game between Spectrum and Oak Bay (7:30 pm).
Wednesday’s game will determine Lower Island seeding for the Vancouver Island AA tournament that goes Feb. 20-22 at Lambrick Park. The top three teams from the Island will advance to the BC AA Championship tournament March 5-8 at the Langley Events Centre.
In their lone action last week, the Blue Jags cruised to a100-46 victory over the visiting Parkland Panthers on Wednesday night. Forward Brody Harris led the Jags with 32 points in the win while Victor Lee added 16 and Jacob Meadows contributed 13.
Junior Boys Basketball
The 2024/25 season came to a disappointing end for the SMUS Junior Boys last week, as they fell 66-43 to the host Royal Bay Ravens in a Lower Island play-in game on Wednesday.
The Junior Jags simply came out flat and were no match for the homecourt Ravens, who won the battle of the boards and the majority of the 50-50 balls during the game. Alex MacKay led the Blue Jags with 10 points in the loss while William Low and Aaron Williamson added nine apiece.
The defeat spelled an early end to the season for the young SMUS squad, which included eight Grade 9s competing in a Lower Island league that is predominantly Grade 10. The team went 3-7 in league play – including several close losses against the top teams – and 9-21 overall. Coaches believe that the valuable experience gained against older players this year will serve the significant SMUS returning corps well next season.
