Britannia Bruins 69 - 71 Churchill Bulldogs
ERIC HAMBER SECONDARY -- In one of the most exhilarating, clutch basketball games this city has seen young women play in decades, two offensive stars emerged on the court for the Tier I city championship but it was Lex Leynes, Tova Rae and the Churchill Bulldogs who grabbed the city crown.
As their rivalry built momentum in three meetings this season, the Bulldogs beat the Britannia Bruins by increasingly smaller margins: 15 points, nine points and finally by only two points to win the public school championship in the Nora McDermott gymnasium at Eric Hamber secondary Feb. 5.
鈥淚t was an amazing win because it was a back-to-back win and it was such an incredible game. This is probably the best game I have seen in a really long time,鈥� said Churchill coach Jennifer Eng. 鈥淏oth sides played so well and it was so evenly matched, and our kids stayed composed during the game. We鈥檙e 3-0.鈥�
鈥淎s a city final, this is about the best I鈥檝e seen,鈥� said Bruins coach Mike Evans. 鈥淭here were a few games with Kits seven or eight years ago that were real nail-biters, and this one was up there. This was nerve-wracking.鈥�
Churchill edged Britannia 35-32 at the half, spreading a slim lead thanks to Leynes who sunk both free throws after the ball was swatted from her hands on a fast-break layup. Her consistency at the line was a factor all night as the tournament MVP sunk nine of 10 free throws, including the winning point in front of the exhilarated Bulldog bench.
The second half started furiously, with the teams trading three point buckets as if they were dropping pennies in a pail.
Bruins star guard Duong cashed in for eight points to tie the game and 40 apiece with her perfect marksmanship from inside and out. Saffron van der Linde grabbed the lead as she backed toward the net and banked the ball off the glass.听
Britannia鈥檚 Lucy Guan and Churchill鈥檚 Cecelia Bao exchanged baskets, each of them dropping two treys in an exhilarating exchange that ended as Katrina Kwong nailed the final dagger-from-deep to give the Bulldogs a 55-52 lead.
鈥淲e were trying to play an isolation game to set up screens and such for [Duong]. We definitely weren鈥檛 trying to shoot threes 鈥� we were trying to get the ball closer to the basket,鈥� said Britannia鈥檚 Evans.
In the fourth quarter, Churchill put up a five-point lead before Britannia went on a 9-3 run to wrestle out a 67-65 lead with two minutes on the clock. From the sidelines, Bruins coach Trevor Stokes shouted, 鈥淏e a monster out there, Saffron,鈥� just before six-foot-one van der Linde sunk a go-ahead spin shot off the glass. On defence, Churchill鈥檚 Rae forced numerous turnovers by interrupting passes and fighting for position in the key. The five-foot-eleven senior was named Churchill鈥檚 player of the game.
The Bulldogs tied the game, and then Leynes made no mistake in taking back the lead as she ripped down an offensive board and put her team ahead 69-67 with the put-back shot.
Only 18 seconds on the clock, Britannia captain Duong handled the ball and, as she had done all night in amassing a game-high 34 points, slashed through the key and tied the score with a sure-footed, sure-shooting lay-up.
鈥淚 really thought when Jules hit that amazing shot鈥︹�� said Evans afterwards. The score was tied at 69, and Rae had fouled Duong on the arm, sending a near-perfect free-throw shooter to the line. Nine seconds on the clock.
鈥淢y coaches told me, if you鈥檙e going to foul, you have to foul hard and I didn鈥檛 do that. The thought went through my mind: 鈥榊ou might have just lost this for everyone.鈥� I shook it off, I let it go and thought: 鈥淣o, you鈥檙e going to do your job right now like everybody else is going to do theirs 鈥� and they did.鈥�
Duong missed, the game stayed tied. The referees called a reaching foul in the back court, sending Churchill鈥檚 Leynes to the line where she was flawless.听
On both sides of the ball, tears.
鈥淲e played how we wanted to play from start to finish,鈥� said Duong, who accepted a scholarship to play for Thompson Rivers University next year. 鈥淎t the end, when we fought for that very last point, that was so surreal and I was so proud of my team. I need to use that [miss] as a lesson to move forward and go to Provincials. I need to keep my head high and I just need to play my game. I don鈥檛 let anyone come into my house.鈥�
鈥淎fter I hit that two free throws, it was so surreal,鈥� said Leynes, who will return to Churchill for Grade 12 next year. 鈥淚 just wanted that moment to happen. We have been practicing for that. That is the moment I look for. I like that challenge.鈥�
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Road to B.C.s
To advance to the B.C. championships in March, the AA and AAA senior girls basketball teams must first qualify at regional tournaments.
AAA Crehan Cup
Churchill, Kitsilano, Eric Hamber and Gladstone will represent 麻豆传媒映画at the AAA Lower Mainland tourney, running Feb. 13 to 20 at schools in Richmond and North Vancouver. (Killarney will play for a wildcard spot.) The AAA championship is 7:30 p.m. Feb. 20 at McMath secondary. The top three teams advance to provincials and the fourth-place finisher plays in a wildcard game Feb. 23.
AA Championship
Britannia is the single 麻豆传媒映画school competing at the AA Lower Mainland tournament, which runs Feb. 15 to 19 at Britannia secondary. The championship is 7:30 p.m. Feb. 19 at the Mike Evans gymnasium. The top three teams advance to provincials and the fourth-place finisher plays in a wildcard game.听
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Championship final and consolation final photos
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