The Pender Harbour junior girls opened North Shore league play in fine fashion Monday with a thrilling 34-32 home court win over Carson Graham.
Mackenzie Stewart hit a three-pointer with only seconds to play to seal the win. She led the Sakinaws with 10 points while Solveig Vanwersch had eight and Jade Storoschuk had six.
"We were down five points at the half, but the girls pulled it together with a great second half," said coach Earl Antilla.
This season marks the first season Pender has had a team in the always-competitive North Shore Secondary School's Athletic Association.
Antilla said he expects it to be a bit of a struggle going up against stiff competition, but in saying that, he also expects to be competitive.
"It was really nice for Carson Graham to come to Pender. Not a lot of the North Shore teams want to come up here and it allowed us to have at least one home game this year," said Antilla. "I have a good, keen bunch and they are a good group of girls. It will be a struggle, but we'll see how the season goes."Pender lost a pair of exhibition games in December to Rockridge by 10 points and by 16 points to Carson Graham.
Pender travels to West Vancouver, St. Thomas Aquinas and Argyle next week.
The Elphinstone senior girls have posted a 2-4 record so far this season.
Following the Christmas break, the Cougars played host to the Chatelech Eagles on Jan. 3 and came away with a 55-20 win.
Their strong play continued in a 66-30 loss to Sentinel on Jan. 5 and a 79-60 home win over West Vancouver on Monday, Jan. 9.
"The three losses before the holidays were against very strong teams, but our play has improved tremendously lately," said head coach Lynn Moran.
Monday's win over West Van was Elphi's best game of the season with seven players contributing to the scoring.
Ellen Fallis, who is averaging well over 20 points per game this season, led the scoring in all three games with 29, 23 and 35 points respectively.
Against Chat, Cailin Perry had 10 and Renat McLean had six in their best games of the year, while Gillian Sanders also chipped in with six points in the win over the Eagles.
"In the Sentinel game, we didn't have any secondary scoring, which really made it difficult to stay close to such a strong opponent," Moran said. "Everything really came together in the game against West Van, as we had top performances from a number of girls."
Clare Lyle returned from holidays with an outstanding game, scoring 16 points and controlling the boards at both ends of the court. Nicole Kinne chipped in with 10 while doing a great job of bringing the ball up the court against West Van's press. Lauren Sanders also had an excellent game on the boards and chipped in with seven points, while her sister Gillian added six points with some nice shooting.
Chat hosted West Vancouver Monday night (following the Elphi game) and travelled to Rockridge on Thursday night. Game results were not available a press time.
The Eagles play host to Sentinel on Monday night and Windsor next Thursday, Jan. 19. Both games are slated for 5 p.m. tip-offs.
Before those league games, however, Chat is playing host to a five-team weekend round robin tournament today (Friday) and Saturday.
Chat opens play Friday at 3 p.m. against King George followed by Elphi versus Eric Hamber at 5 p.m. and Chat versus Cariboo Hill at 6:30 p.m.
Eric Hamber plays Chat Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. followed by Cariboo Hill versus Elphi at noon and King George versus Elphi at 3 p.m.
The Elphi bantam boys improved to 1-1 in North Shore league play and 3-1 overall with a thrilling 38-35 win on the road against Windsor Monday afternoon. The Cougars hosted Sutherland Wednesday night. A game result was not available a press time.
Up next is a home game on Jan. 18 against Don Ross from Squamish. Tip off is set for 4:30 p.m.
The Elphi junior boys improved to 3-1 on the season with a 54-33 road win against Seycove on Monday afternoon. They hit the road again Wednesday night to play Collingwood. A game result was not available at press time.
The Cougars play host to Handsworth on Monday, set for a 4:30 p.m. tip-off.
The Elphi juvenile boys dropped a close 37-34 decision to Sutherland in North Vancouver on Jan. 4. They played in Argyle Monday and Sentinel on Wednesday. Game results were not available a press time. The team is 1-1 so far on the season.
The Chat junior boys lost 35-31 to Mulgrave in a close game at Chat Monday afternoon. Hamish Troup was the top scorer for Chat with 13 points followed by TJ Thelner with 10. Chat was leading at the end of the third quarter, but Mulgrave pulled ahead late in the final frame.
The Elphi juvenile girls dropped to 0-4 with a 54-19 loss to West Van on Jan. 5. They played in Collingwood on Tuesday and play host to Sutherland on Jan. 17 with a 4:30 p.m. tip-off.
A spirited fourth-quarter rally fell just short Monday as Elphi's Grade 8 girls lost 40-35 tothe tall and aggressive Oceanview Middle School Orcas in Powell River.
Trailing by 11 points, the Cougars rallied behind guards Ali Blattler and Gabby Gunn to narrow the margin to a single point, 32-31, before Oceanview called a time-out and regrouped. Ali led all scorers with 12 points while Maddie Wrinch scored eight.
Oceanview will be coming to Elphi for areturn game at 3:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 18.
The Elphi senior boys played Bodwell Tuesday and host Collingwood on Jan. 19 at 4:30 p.m. The Cougars are off to a 0-4 start in league play.
