Tehya Carpenter’s return from the injury shelf last week came just in time for the Duchess Park Condors.
Sidelined with an injured knee she hurt in practice weeks before the season began in December, the Grade 12 point guard provided the spark the Condors needed to defeat the College Heights Cougars 60-49 in the City Championship last Tuesday.
Then in the triple-A zone tournament, after a 55-point win over Correlieu, Duchess Park returned to the court at College Heights Secondary School Friday in front of a packed noon-hour crowd and the topped the Cougars 71-53.
In Saturday’s final, the Condors captured the zone crown with a 55-47 victory over College Heights. The Cougars whittled the Condors' 15-point lead at halftime and got to within two in the second half before Duchess Park pulled away in the late stages.
“Our defence against them the last three games was the difference,” said Condors head coach Reid Roberts.
Condors post Kionae Roberts was assigned to the job of shadowing Cougars sharpshooter Loren Cacares, a Grade 12 point guard who shredded the Trojans for 32 and 34 points in two meetings earlier in the season – basically half her team’s total output. In the city league final, Caceres was limited to 18 points.
“In the two zone games we held her to 12, which was a gamechanger, she’s so good and we really focused on her,” said Reid Roberts. “Kionae did an amazing job and Emily Clarke would come in and we were just relentless on her.”
Both teams qualify for the triple-A provincial championship that starts next Wednesday at Langley Events Centre.
The City League final win avenged the Condors’ loss to College Heights in last year’s final.
In front of a raucous crowd Tuesday (Feb. 11) at the Northern Sport Centre, the Cougars hit two threes right off the hop and jumped out to an 8-0 lead but Carpenter interrupted it when she hit a three that triggered 14-point run and the Condors never looked back.
“Tehya came in for her first game and it was the city finals and the plan was to start here as a Grade 12 but pull her out in the first whistle, so it was going to be anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute or two and she ended up playing for 5 1/2 minutes because there wasn’t a whistle,” said coach Roberts. “She hit a couple of threes and got us going offensively.”
In her Grade 10 season two year ago, Carpenter played for the Duchess Park team that won the junior girls' zone title. She was most valuable player of last year’s triple-A zone tournament and shared in the Condors’ team MVP award at point guard that year with Zhara Ngabo.
“It’s been an emotional season as I’m her dad, her sister Aiyana is on the team, and she’s played with some of the girls since she began basketball nine years ago,” said Condors assistant coach Jacob Carpenter.
“There were many times during the season where we didn’t think she’d be able to play in her Grade 12 season. So even though she only played eight or nine minutes in the city final, she got us on the board with a three-pointer, and the girls were pretty energized by her presence.”
Ngabo, a Grade 10 guard, has consistently been one of the Condors’ top scorers and dependable playmakers and that rang true last weekend when she was won zone MVP honours. Ngabo’s cousin, Mercedes Black, and Maggie Malfair have also been mainstays as Grade 12 forwards, scoring points and hauling in rebounds at both ends of the court.
The Cougars are an even blend with four Grade 12s (Carpenter, Malfair, Black, Naiha Manhas) four Grade 11s (Roberts, Emily Clarke, Katya Marchiewitz, Devyn Bjorn) and two Grade 10s (Ngabo and Alyana Carpenter).
College Heights was ranked No. 3 in the province prior to the City Championship and the Condors were No. 5 in BC. But after defeating their crosstown rivals in three consecutive games that ranking should flip-flop in the Condors’ favour. The provincial tournament seedings will be revealed tonight at 7 on the BC School Sports website.
Mennonite Educational Institute (MEI) Eagles of Abbotsford will be the top seed at provincial in Langley next week. They beat Duchess Park by 40 points and College Heights by 50 in tournament play this season. Coach Roberts figures the Vernon Panthers and Sa-Hali Sabres of Kamloops will also be in the provincial medal hunt.
“Our goal is to get to the final and we have a shot at getting there but at the same time we could easily be fifth or sixth,” said Roberts.
“Vernon is our closest matchup, they’ll either be ranked three, four or five.”
The Condors opened the tournament season with a one-point win over Vernon in the final of the Howard Tsumura tournament in Langley.
In local tournament finals this season, College Heights defeated the Condors at the Condor Classic and at the Shas Ti Kelly Road tournament.
Eagles second-best in single-A girls zone tournament
At the single-A zone tournament at Cedars Christian School, the Sir Alexander Mackenzie Grizzlies of Hagensborg scored a 52-28 win over the host Cedars Christian Eagles in Saturday’s final.
Cedars advanced to the championship game with a 32-18 win over the Fort St. James Falcons.
Cedars placed two players on the first all-star team – Mila Johnson and Colby Konig – while Sofija Johnson was selected to the second team. Paige Kynoch was picked as the top offensive player in the seven-team zone tournament.
There are three provincial berths for North Central so that means the Grizzlies, Eagle and Falcons will be travelilng to Langley next Tuesday.
Quad-A girls bragging rights for the North Central zone were settled over the weekend on the court at Prince George Secondary School and the North Peace Grizzlies of Fort St. John booked their provincial ticket after back-to-back wins over the host Prince George Polars.
North Peace beat PGSS 55-31 in the first game and 78-47 in the rematch.
Junior girls BC championship starts this weekend in Chilliwack
The North Central zone junior girls-champion Duchess Park Condors are ranked 11th at the 32-team Junior Girls BC High School Championship that starts Friday in Chilliwack.
The Condors will take on the No. 22-ranked Kelowna Owls in their first game Friday at 3 p.m.
The Cedars Christian Eagles, ranked 21st, are matched with the R.E. Mountain Eagles of Langley in their tournament opener Friday at 1:30 p.m.
