Dover’s girls didn’t win the ‘battle of the bays,’ but they accomplished another goal, and they’re through to provincials.
The Dover Bay Dolphins senior AAA girls’ basketball team placed second at the Vancouver Island championships this weekend in their home gym. Dover beat Spectrum and then Claremont to advance to the final, where they were stopped 80-34 by a top-ranked Breakers squad.
Madeline Hart, Dover point guard and a first-team all-star, said her team tried hard and never gave up.
“They’re a great team and they’re amazing defensively and offensively and they have some amazing players…” she said. “So our goal was just to come in and play the best we could and see what we could do.”
The Dolphins had qualified for provincial championships the night before with a 63-54 win in a back-and-forth game against Claremont. Hart said her team played smart in that one, executed the coach’s plan and played with desire the whole game.
Cara Dunlop, also a first-team all-star, called the Island championships “a great group effort” by the Dolphins.
“We’ve all been together for awhile now; this has been our goal for the past few years, to make it [to provincials], so I’m very proud of how we did,” she said.
Hart led the team with 13 points in the final and Dunlop added nine. Oak Bay’s Sophie de Santiago scored 20 points and was chosen tournament MVP.
Provincial championships will be played March 1-4 at the Langley Events Centre.
NDSS girls will challenge for B.C. championship berth
Also advancing through Islands this past weekend were the Nanaimo District Islanders senior AA girls. After dropping their tournament opener to St. Michaels on Thursday at Lambrick Park, NDSS defeated Wellington and Shawnigan Lake, then edged Mark Isfeld 58-56 in a must-win third-place game Saturday.
The Islanders scored a go-ahead lay-up late, then the Ice missed a lay-up, turned the ball over and time expired.
"It was a really intense last minute of the game," said Jenna Carver, Islanders coach. "Both teams fought really hard to try and win."
The third-place finish at Islands earns NDSS a challenge game against North Vancouver's Windsor Dukes on Tuesday (Feb. 21) at a neutral site on the Lower Mainland. Carver said her players will be excited for the matchup.
"They're really happy with coming third and doing so well for the season, considering last year we didn't even make it to Islands. So coming off a season like that and doing so well, it was all really hard work and a great group of girls," she said.
There were no tournament all-stars, but Jenna Falkenberg, Brianna Gray and Taylor Olsen were top performers for the Isles.
The Wildcats senior AA girls are eliminated from the post-season.
NDSS boys win North Island final
In other local high school hoops news, the Nanaimo District Islanders won the North Island AAA championship, defeating the Wellington Wildcats 80-63 on Saturday at Courtenay’s Mark Isfeld Secondary School gym.
Owen Morrison was top scorer for the Isles with 17 points, Will Fridriksson had 16 points and nine assists, Anders Cederberg also tallied 16 points and Ismael Ndiaye grabbed 17 rebounds. Both the Islanders and Wildcats advance to the Island championships, which get underway Thursday (Feb. 23) at Vic High.
The Barsby Bulldogs placed sixth at North Islands and are eliminated from the playoffs.
Meanwhile, two other Nanaimo boys’ teams are continuing with post-season play – the Dover Bay AAAA senior boys are North Island champions and will tip off at Islands starting Thursday at Belmont Secondary. The Nanaimo Christian School Trail Blazers are also North Island champs and start Islands on Friday at Duncan Christian.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com