After a pair of one-point losses to the Duchess Park Condors, the PGSS Polars finally beat their biggest rival. And they did it in the most important game of the season to date.
Playing on their home floor on Saturday, the Polars defeated the Condors 42-31 in the championship game of the junior girls basketball zone tournament. With the win, PGSS clinched the first north central berth in provincials.
Later in the day, the Condors held off the Cedars Christian School Eagles 35-27 and secured the second berth. The 16-team provincial championship tournament will be held March 10-12 at W.J. Mouat secondary in Abbotsford.
In the PGSS-Duchess clash, the Polars outscored the Condors 17-5 in the second quarter, which put the hosts into a 24-10 lead. The Condors were back in form in the third and fourth quarters but weren't able to catch up.
In the district championship tournament two weekends ago, the Condors edged the Polars 41-40. Earlier in the season, at a College Heights gathering, Duchess and PGSS went to triple overtime before Duchess grabbed a 45-44 decision.
"We wanted [the Saturday win] really bad," said Jill Cole, a Grade 10 Polars guard who was picked as the most valuable player of zones. "We didn't want to play another game in the afternoon so we just took it to them. We were hot from outside and tried to get it inside. We just went on a run and kept it up."
On Tuesday, see The Citizen and pgcitizen.ca for more.
