Senior Girls Basketball
The SMUS Senior Girls Basketball team put together an impressive three-game run to cruise to its fifth straight Vancouver Island championship this past weekend.
The Blue Jags combined smothering defence, terrific ball movement and solid shooting to defeat Lambrick Park 67-44 in a packed SMUS Single Gym on Saturday night. Grade 12 guard Charlie Anderson poured in 20 points and added 11 rebounds and eight steals in the final to earn MVP honours for the Island AA tournament.
Senior point guard Avery Geddes recorded 26 points, nine rebounds and five steals for SMUS in the championship game and was named top defensive player of the tournament while teammate Olivia Pickering had 10 points against Lambrick and also pulled down 11 rebounds. Pickering was named to the tournament all-star team.
In a tournament semifinal on Friday night, Anderson scored 31 points as SMUS beat Gulf Islands 74-19. Isabela Herrera Orduna added 13 points in the win while Geddes had 12. SMUS opened the Island tournament with a 97-14 quarterfinal victory over Nanaimo’s John Barsby on Thursday. Anderson had 28 points in that game while Herrera Orduna had 12, Geddes 11 and Pickering 10.
SMUS, ranked No. 1 among BC AA teams for most of the season before being hit by illness last month, will be the top Island seed for the BC AA Championship tournament Feb. 26 to March 1 at the Langley Events Centre.
The Blue Jags are currently ranked No. 2 provincially behind only Holy Cross of Surrey. The draw for the BC tournament will be announced this Wednesday, Feb. 19.
Junior Girls Basketball
The SMUS Junior Girls also captured the Island Championship on Saturday, beating rival Oak Bay 31-27 in Saturday afternoon’s low-scoring final at SMUS.
Forward Mikaela Dubé led the Junior Jags with 12 points and 17 rebounds and was named player of the game in the championship final while also earning top defensive player honours for the Island tournament. Guard Linn Kuepper contributed eight points in the final and was selected MVP of the Island tournament. SMUS teammate Addie Tait was named to the tournament all-star team.
“We had early foul trouble and we struggled to put the ball in the hoop, but our ability to get stops when we needed them and limit their second-chance opportunities allowed us to be successful,” said SMUS Head Coach Tina Lum of her team’s performance in the final.
The Junior Jags reached the Island final with two straight victories on Friday. In their morning opener, they beat Brentwood College 91-20 behind a 27-point performance by Elspeth Rodger, 25 points from Dubé and 21 from Kuepper. In a semifinal played Friday night, SMUS defeated Dover Bay 50-31. Kuepper led the way with 22 points in that victory while Dubé had 17.
SMUS now advances to the BC Junior Championship tournament which will be played Feb. 21-23 in Chilliwack.
Senior Boys Basketball
The SMUS Senior Boys overcame a double-digit second-half deficit against Lambrick Park last Wednesday to force overtime before eventually falling 81-73 in the Lower Island AA Championship game at UVic’s CARSA facility. Mistakes and missed free throws in the dying minutes of regulation cost the Blue Jags and Lambrick dominated the overtime session.
Senior guard Davis Hardy led SMUS with 25 points in the loss while Elliot Mairet added 24 and Dani Pelyhe had 20, including five threes in the second half to lead the comeback. The win gave Lambrick the top Lower Island seed for this week’s eight-team Island AA tournament, which it will host beginning Thursday.
SMUS will take on Highland of Comox in its first game of the Island tournament, beginning at 7:15 pm on Thursday. Other first-round matchups will see Lambrick play Ladysmith, Pacific Christian take on Shawnigan Lake, and Glenlyon Norfolk face Brentwood College.
The top three teams from the Island tournament will advance to the BC AA Championship March 5-8 at the Langley Events Centre.
SMUS Athletes of the Month
Senior Basketball standouts Olivia Pickering and Davis Hardy were honoured recently as the SMUS Athletes of the Month for January.
Pickering, a Grade 12 forward who is a force in the paint for the Senior Blue Jags, earned all-star awards in back-to-back weekends last month. A regular leader on the boards, Pickering anchors the SMUS defence with her ability to guard inside and out.
Hardy, also a Grade 12, has been counted on to provide the SMUS Boys Basketball team with a lot of scoring and has stepped up in the biggest games. The MVP of January’s Victoria City Police Tournament, Hardy has been a vocal leader and is very supportive of his teammates.
