Skip to content

Pemberton wins Chat girls invitational

Pemberton stole the show last weekend in Sechelt, winning the Chatelech Eagles Invitational senior girls basketball tournament.

Pemberton stole the show last weekend in Sechelt, winning the Chatelech Eagles Invitational senior girls basketball tournament.

Chatelech came in fifth, while Elphinstone came in last in the eight-team tournament that also featured teams from Enver Creek, Sutherland, Eric Hamber, Charles Best and King George.

Sutherland finished second, with Charles Best in third.

Chat started play with a 26-20 win over a short-handed Enver Creek squad on Friday. Enver Creek had ferry problems and managed to get only five players on the court for the game. By the end of the contest, the Enver Creek girls were out of gas, but put in a strong effort playing with no subs.

Chat lost to Eric Hamber 38-25 later Friday night and dropped a 28-13 game to Charles Best Saturday morning.

The Eagles played their best game of the tournament in the playoffs, however, pulling out a 33-31 overtime win over King George.

"It wasn't a bad weekend for us," said Chat coach Ellen Thomas. "We're a really young team with mostly Grade 11s, so this is their first year of senior ball. The team is learning and starting to take their game to the next level. They are getting more confident in seeing the floor, seeing plays develop, instead of just dribbling, passing and then throwing up wild shots."

Thomas said winning helps promote a better attitude and she saw a lot of good things from her team on the weekend.

"We're starting to win a few of the close games that we were losing before, so that's a big deal for us," she said. "King George was a nice game to win. We were up and they came back, but the girls stuck with it and we won. We're not a good team yet, but we're getting there."

Elphi entered the tournament with a depleted line-up due to a grad ski trip and an outdoor education trip, so with a different group of players for each game, head coach Lynn Moran admittedly knew her squad was going to be in tough.

"The girls had never played together before, and as a result, we had quite a few unforced turnovers," Moran said. "The girls played hard and it was a great experience for all the players, especially the younger ones. It also gave me an opportunity to give some of my players who don't always play a lot of minutes in our league games some valuable floor time."

Elphi lost 33-25 to Sutherland, 24-12 to Pemberton, 24-14 to King George and 31-15 to Enver Creek.

Karli Davies had a great game against Sutherland, notching 12 points, with Natasha Wells adding nine. Lauren Fallis missed the first game due to work commitments, but returned to the line-up to lead the way in the other three games with eight points against Pemberton and six points against both King George and Enver Creek.

In North Shore League play, both Chat and Elphi have been in tough all year. Chat is 0-4 with games against Collingwood, St. Thomas Aquinas, Sentinel and Elphi (on Jan. 27 at 5 p.m. at Chat) left on their schedule. They also have an exhibition game on Feb. 2 in Powell River and are off to Enver Creek Feb. 5/6 for a tournament.

As for the Cougars, they are 1-4 and have games against West Vancouver and STA left on their schedule.

Senior boys

The Cougars had their fair share of ups and downs last week, throwing a wrench in the team's recent streak of success.

The roller-coaster ride started last Wednesday (Jan. 13) against Seycove. Both teams understood the significance of the game, as the winner would essentially become the favourite for this year's North Shore AA league title.

Elphi played a nearly flawless three quarters, holding a five-point lead heading into the fourth. But then Seycove's 6-7 star centre Fedor Mikhailytchev took over. Mikhailytchev scored at will, leading Seycove to a 66-60 win, snapping Elphi's 11-game win streak.

As if coping with this setback wasn't enough, Elphi had to gear up for a next-day league game against the only other team they had previously lost to: the Bodwell Bruins.

Elphi came out possessed, running the offence like a track meet, and wore down B.C.'s number one ranked single-A team to the point of exhaustion in the 74-61 home win.

Elphi then headed to Hope last weekend for the annual Mustangs Hoopfest Invitational. Due to the grad trip, the Cougars were without senior starters Dolf Vermeulen, Evan Murphy and Shane Rennie, effectively presenting too much of an obstacle for the tired squad to overcome. Elphi went 1-2, first posting a win over the Agassiz Chieftains, then succumbing to both the D.W. Poppy Redhawks and Summerland Rockets in the semi and consolation finals.

"We learned a lot this weekend," said coach Mike Sopow. "We learned that we're going to continue to have to work hard, because realistically, our past achievements are not going to win our future games."

Elphi played Chat in its final league game Wednesday night (results were not available at press time) and is off to Kitsilano Secondary School in Vancouver this weekend for inaugural Blue Demon's Classic.

Chat is 1-1 in league play with games left against Elphi, Seycove and Bodwell. The North Shore playoffs start Feb. 5.

Junior boys

The Cougars played host to a tournament last weekend in Gibsons.

The Howe Sound Sounders from Squamish finished first with a 48-40 win over Bodwell in the final.

Elphi, who beat Chat 46-31 in the first game of the tournament, played again in the third place game, where the Cougars pulled away in the third quarter to win the contest, finishing third overall.

Elphi lost 55-52 to Bodwell and 52-50 to Howe Sound in their other games.

In North Shore league play, Elphi is 1-5 after recent loses to Seycove and Rockridge and a default loss to Handsworth, while Chat is 0-6 after recent loses to Collingwood, Argyle and Seycove. Elphi and Chat tangle in league play in Sechelt on Thursday, Jan. 28, at 4 p.m.

Chat also plays host to a six-team tournament this weekend in Sechelt with the first game today (Friday) at 3:30 p.m. Action continues Friday night with the last game at 8 p.m. Play starts Saturday morning at 10 a.m. with the final set for 4 p.m.

Junior girls

The Cougars are 1-9 in league play, but have been playing much better as of late. Elphi posted a 1-5 record in November/December, but after a 62-12 defeat against Argyle earlier this month, Elphi has shown great improvement in a 48-34 loss to Carson Graham and a 49-42 home loss to Rockridge on Jan. 13. Elphi has one league game remaining against Handsworth.

Juvenile girls

The Cougars picked up an impressive 50-34 win over Seycove last week and have league games coming up against Balmoral and Argyle. Elphi is 1-3 in league play.

Bantam boys

The Elphi gold squad is 4-1 in league play following a recent 52-19 win over Mulgrave and 42-23 win over Collingwood.

The Cougars entertained West Van-couver Thursday night in a key league contest. The Elphi black squad is 1-2 in league play following a 26-20 win over Rockridge last week.

With files from Brian Jones