After an undefeated league season and a first-place finish at the city finals last weekend, Oak Bay High’s senior girls basketball team hopes to clinch a berth to the B.C.s at this week’s Island Championships.
Hosted at Claremont Secondary, the Islands began yesterday and continue through Saturday. With the top four Victoria teams attending, the Oak Bay Breakers are joined by Claremont, who Oak Bay beat 53-47 in the city finals, No. 3 Belmont and No. 4 Mt. Douglas.
Also attending will be the top four North Island teams, including the always tough Dover Bay, from Nanaimo, and Vanier, from the Comox Valley, says Breakers coach Rob Kinnear.
“The girls have played really well,” Kinnear said following last weekend’s win.
“We’re very big and athletic, (but) one of the youngest teams in the province,” Kinnear noted.
Oak Bay has just two Grade 12 players on its roster, and starts three Grade 10s and two Grade 11s. That youth bodes well for the next few years.
Over the season, the girls have worked hard and come together as a team, and the past weekend’s competition allowed the players to respond to Claremont’s quick, nimble game, which will help going into the Islands, he added.
“I know we’ll come out and play hard.”
Oak Bay was scheduled to play the winner of a Carihi (No. 4 in the north) and Stelly’s (No. 5 south) match-up Thursday night, after the Oak Bay News went to press.
The winner of that game plays at 5:30 p.m. Friday, taking on the winner of Thursday’s Belmont/Vanier game.
The final goes at 6 p.m. Saturday with the top two from this weekend’s games moving on to provincials March 2 to 5 in Langley. The third-place team will play a challenge game.