Looking at the Killarney senior girls basketball team’s tally of wins and losses this season doesn’t tell the whole story.
After a third place finish at the Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»City Championships, the Cougars, who totalled 19 wins and 12 losses on the season and ended fifth in the league (4-3), were knocked out of the Lower Mainland tourney last Thursday with a (52-50) loss at the final buzzer to Richmond’s McMath Wildcats.
The loss dashed the Cougars hopes, as the last Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»Tier 1 team standing, for a trip to the provincials.
But for city All-Star and Cougar forward Tearra McBride, the season was a huge success.
“We grew so much from when we first walked on that court to when we finally walked off that court,” she said.
Coach Daniel McGuire agreed. He said in his 25 years as a coach he has rarely seen a team gel so well and become so supportive of each other, regardless of the score on the board.
According to McGuire, on and off the court, McBride is an example of the team’s tenacity and heart.
Under the tutelage of McGuire, McBride saw her play on the hardwood improve.
“I was finally able to use my abilities and put my tallness to the test and be a real threat,” said the six-foot McBride, who averaged 14 points a game and was known to rack up 20 or more rebounds.
Cougar guard Jazmine Aure said the turnaround in McBride was amazing.
“She’s so great. Before she couldn’t even hit the basket,” Aure said. “She improved a lot.”
Off the court, 17-year-old McBride has weathered more than her fair share of challenges in life.
Born in Louisiana, she was adopted by white parents in Telkwa, a small town of 800 outside of Smithers in northern B.C. Â
While her parents provided a loving home, growing up she never felt part of the school community, she said. At 13 she was diagnosed with anxiety and depression.
“I didn’t have many friends,” said McBride, adding she faced racism as the rare African-American in the community.
She tried to find comfort on the basketball team but didn’t feel accepted there either.
By 2012, at 16, McBride felt her life wasn’t going in a positive direction and she wanted a change.
“I wasn’t going to school… I wasn’t playing sports. So I woke up one day and was like, I need to do this. I want to play basketball. I want to be somebody,” she said.
In August she moved to Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»to attend Killarney and found the sense of belonging she was looking for on the Cougars.
“It was an instant connection,” she said of her teammates. “I feel like they are family.”
And unlike at her former high school, her skin colour was a non-issue.
“It just feels better here. If people want to make fun of me, it is not because I am black, it is just because they don’t like me,” McBride said with a laugh over the phone from her East Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»foster home.
In January, McBride transferred to the Spectrum high school program, which will allow her to graduate sooner but continue to play for Killarney.
She credits her teammates with helping her stay focused on her goals of both playing and graduating.
“They are nice girls, they are going places in life,” she said.
There is some question about McBride’s eligibility to play with the team next year because of her age, but she said she is crossing her fingers and looking forward to the next season for the Cougars.
“It will be amazing,” she said.
