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Oak Bay Breakers win Island basketball championship, wrap of weekend’s city and Island hoops tourneys

The Oak Bay Breakers proved once and for all this season that they are the class of the Island, handily winning the AAA Island Championship
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Mount Doug Ram Abby Goldschmid

The Oak Bay Breakers proved once again they are the class of the Island by winning the AAA Girls Island Championships at Dover Bay secondary in Nanaimo on Saturday.

Case in point, Grade 10 point guard Morgan Roskelley, named the tournament MVP, potted 29 points in the first three quarters of the final versus the Claremont Spartans, as the Breakers starters rested in the last quarter of the Breakers' 82-47 win. It was a repeat of the Breakers' 54-38 win over Claremont in the South Island final a week prior.

“Roskelley is usually a pass-first guard but she saw some opportunities and scored a lot of points (on Saturday),” said Breakers coach Rob Kinnear.

Oak Bay’s Lauren Yearwood, a Grade 10 student, was named best defensive player.

The Breakers are top contenders to win the AAA provincials March 6 to 9, at the Langley Events Centre.

The host Dover Bay Dolphins won the Islands’ third-place game over the Spectrum Thunder 58-52. Because the Island gets 2.5 berths at the AAA provincials this year, Dover Bay plays a challenge game at Oak Bay this week versus a Fraser Valley team.

It’s a tough loss for the Thunder, who looked promising entering the city playoffs third overall in the standings behind Oak Bay and Claremont.

Oak Bay, Claremont, Dover Bay and Spectrum finished first through fourth with Stelly’s, Mount Douglas, G.P. Vanier and Alberni each suffering double knockouts.

Island first team all-stars: Lauren Yearwood (Oak Bay); Marissa Dheensaw (Claremont); Haley Cabral (Claremont); Emma Cunningham (Spectrum). Second team all-stars: Chloe Campbell (Oak Bay); Michelle Thalmann (Claremont); Olimpia Ruffalo (Spectrum).

See RAMS SURPRISE AT AAA GIRLS CITY CHAMPIONSHIPS below.

Lambrick dislodge St. Mikes

The Lambrick Park Lions struck back at Saanich rival St. Michaels University Blue Jaguars to take the third overall at the AA Boys Island Championships in Nanaimo on Saturday. The win gives the Lions the tournament’s third and final spot at provincials, while the Jags were forced to play a challenge game versus Elphinstone (Gibsons) in Nanaimo on Monday.

Lambrick won the third-place game 63-45 on Saturday, a rematch of last week’s AA boys South Island final, which St. Mikes won 58-51.

Lambrick Park and SMUS each lost in the semifinals but met in the third-place game with dominating wins in the consolation bracket.

Both won their opening rounds, but eventual champs Brentwood Bay beat SMUS in the semifinal 65-53, while Lambrick fell to second-overall Wellington 72-65.

Each earned a second chance at a top-three spot with consolation wins, as St. Mikes beat Shawnigan Lake and Lambrick Park popped 66-55.

GNS qualify for A provincials

The Glenlyon Norfolk Gryphons are headed to provincials, but couldn’t get past Duncan Christina in the Boys A Island final, falling 79-42.

The Gryphons take the second of three Island berths for the A provincials hosted at Abbotsford’s Columbia Bible College, March 6 to 9.

Powering the Gryphons were first team tournament all-star Mattias Murray-Hemphill and second-team all-star Adam Kwasny.

St. Andrews Sabres missed the provincials and finished fifth overall, dropping its final game 70-57 to Maaqtusiis. Sabres’ player Brendan Smith was a first team all-star.

Spartans spear Bays at cities

The Claremont Spartans are the 2013 AAA champs for the South Island, popping the Oak Bay Bays 62-50 in the final at Reynolds Secondary School on Saturday.

Mason Loewen continued his strong season, pacing Spartans in the final with 26 points. Mat Hampton and Liam Horne led the Bays with 16 and 14 points, respectively. The Bays never trailed by much, as they entered the fourth quarter behind by a point, 41-40.

But the Spartans were too much and pulled away in the home stretch.

The Belmont Bulldogs came back from an early deficit to win the third-place game over the Mount Douglas Rams 76-60. The Rams were up 15-7 after the first quarter, but the Bulldogs took over with a 25-10 run in the second quarter and never lost the lead.

Spectrum Thunder beat Stelly’s Stingers 79-67 to win the fifth and final berth at the upcoming AAA Islands at Mount Doug beginning Thursday. But to be there, the Thunder played Alberni (No. 4, North) in a challenge game Tuesday (Feb. 26) in Ladysmith. Results were past press time.

Rams surprise at AAA girls city championships

Islands was also the end of the season for the Mount Douglas Rams season, a squad that surprised with third place at last week’s city championships.

The Rams lost to the Stelly’s Stingers in the opening game of the city championships but bounced back to beat Spectrum 52-51.

“Spectrum had beat us in league play. They were third, we were fifth, so it was emotional knowing that game clinched a spot at Islands,” said Rams’ coach Rick Griffin.

The Rams then played Stelly’s in the third place game and won the rematch 44-41.

It was a moment of triumph for the Rams’ injury-decimated season. The team had already lost four starters by Christmas, two with knee injuries, one with a groin issue and one with a concussion.

Even Griffin was on crutches at Islands, as the coach hurt his ankle at practice last week.

“We should have been sponsored by a pharmacy,” he said. “You might see one key injury a year, not four.”

Camosun Chargers and UVic Vikes grad Carmen Lapthorne coached the Rams with Griffin.

AA and A girls reports coming.