The Elphinstone Cougars finished off the regular season in thrilling fashion last Thursday with a 50-44 comeback win over the Collingwood Cavaliers.
The senior girls finished league play with a .500 record and at 6-6 qualified for the North Shore playoffs, which began on Monday.
Elphi came out flat against the Cavs, and had it not been for Collingwood's poor shooting, could have been blown out.
The Cougars were out-hustled in the first half, did not pull down any rebounds and turned over the ball at critical times. Collingwood held a 25-15 edge at halftime.
But the halftime break seemed to energize the Cougars. They came out on fire in the second half, out-scoring the Cavaliers 16-9 in the third and 19-9 in the fourth.
The final five minutes of the game were the best of the night as both teams matched shot for shot with the lead changing hands seven times. Elphi was 47-44 with 13 seconds left when Collingwood put up a three-point shot that just hit the front rim. Collingwood had another chance to tie it up four seconds later as they threw up another three-point attempt that again just rimmed out.
Katrina Jones and Danie Proby made three of four foul shots with .2 seconds on the clock to seal the win.
Proby led the way for Elphi, scoring 21 points while Jones had 13.
"We really looked bad in the first half. We had no energy," said Elphi coach Lynn Moran. "Katrina got into foul trouble in the first half and she spent most of it on the bench. That really hurt us. I was proud of the comeback and the fight the girls showed. Everyone came through under pressure."
Elphi continued that momentum on the weekend and finished second in a tournament in Pemberton.
Elphi won their first three games but lost 61-40 to Kelowna in the final.
"The tournament was great. Everyone played well and the team had a lot of fun together," Moran said. "Kelowna is a very good team. They're very athletic, fast and tall."
But the biggest win of the week came on Monday night as Elphi knocked off Sentinel 45-43 in its first playoff game. Elphi lost to Sentinel by 40 earlier in the season, but the Cougars pulled out all the stops and picked up a huge win.
"It was awesome. My girls probably played the best game of their lives."
Elphi plays Britannia in Vancouver on Monday night in a wildcard playoff, with the winner advancing to the Lower Mainland playoffs.
Senior boysThe Elphi Cougars were out-hustled and out-scored by the Howe Sound Sounders 84-53 last Thursday in North Shore League play.
The Sounders led from start to finish and used a huge third quarter, out-scoring the Cougars 28-11 to seal the deal.
"It's all about drive and the desire to win, and we didn't have it," said Elphi coach Bill Campbell. "The story for me was rebounding. We couldn't pull down any boards at either end of the floor. I think Howe Sound also shot the ball very well. And even when they threw up what looked like a prayer shot, it went down. When you have that kind of confidence in your shot, it's tough to beat anyone."
Elphi played its last regular season game Tuesday night in North Vancouver against Sutherland, where the Cougars fell again, this time 105-39.
Elphi finished ninth in league play and faced the eighth place Rockridge Ravens Thursday night in the wildcard playoff. The winner from that game becomes the eighth seed and will face Collingwood, the number one seed tonight (Feb. 18). Results of Thursday's contest were not available at press time.
The Chat senior boys finished league play on the short end of a 65-60 score against Collingwood last Thursday night.
"We didn't play any of our offense in the fourth quarter. We didn't want to show Collingwood anything so close to the playoffs," said coach Bruce Haynes. "Our goal was to play hard, not get any injuries and work on some things before the playoffs."
Chat finishes the season as the number two seed and plays seven-seeded Howe Sound from Squamish tonight (Feb. 18). The winner moves on to the second round of the playoffs next week.
Junior boysChatelech played host to the annual Kayk'W tournament last weekend in Sechelt. Eight teams competed at the event with St. Patrick's, a private school from Vancouver, beating Charles Best from Coquitlam in the final.
Although the Chat boys led in the last minutes in two of their games, they were short players and simply ran out of steam."Shooting was the major problem for the boys," said Chat coach Garry Nohr. "Their defense has improved, so they had many turnovers in each game that gave them many opportunities to score. The major problem was when the guards seemed to get their shooting on, the forwards did not, and then the opposite occurred."
Top scorer in the first game for Chat was Jared James, in the second game Cameron Dybwad and the final game Rod Abengoza.
"The boys have come a long way this year to the point they are competitive with Vancouver teams," added Nohr.
Junior girlsElphi played host to a junior girls' tournament last weekend.
The 10-team event saw Elphi finish in third spot after they lost in the semifinal to Mouat Secondary from Abbotsford.
Handsworth from North Vancouver edged Mouat 55-52 in the final.
"We had a strong weekend," said Elphi coach Peter Beyser. "We beat Mission by 13, beat Pemberton and beat Argyle by six points. Mouat was a tough game. They're ranked fourth in the province, so I was pleased that our girls gave them such a competitive game. They basically out-ran us and we couldn't defend their point guard."
Beyser wanted to say thanks to the student volunteers and the referees for all their hard work in making the tournament a success.
Elphi finished fourth in the North Shore league this season and played Carson Graham on Monday in the playoffs. Carson Graham pulled out a 41-33 victory to end Elphi's season.
