LANGLEY – There’s something about the Vernon Panthers senior girls basketball team that defies conventional hoops wisdom.
They’re small, really small. They don’t have a true low-post player. At times, their most tenacious rebounder is a dwarf-sized guard who is generously listed at 5-foot-4. They lack depth, coming to the B.C. championships with just nine players.
And they play at a roadrunner pace. All over the court. For a full 40 minutes. It’s exhausting just watching them. You think they’d need an oxygen tank on the bench.
On Thursday at the Langley Events Centre, they made just two buckets in the third quarter and fell behind by eight points midway through the fourth. Yet, through an unwavering belief, that tireless work ethic and a few three-point attempts finally falling, the fourth-ranked Panthers grinded out a 51-46 victory over the No. 5 College Heights Cougars of Prince George in a triple-A quarterfinal.
Their commitment to each other and the belief in the process led to a pretty simple message in a timeout after they fell behind by nearly double digits in the final quarter.
“We took that timeout,” said Isla Joly, the tiny but dynamic vacuum machine of loose balls under the basket. “We took our time. We said ‘we’re fine, we’re OK. We still can come back and win this’ and we just kept playing.”
Panthers head coach Dave Tetrault, who came out of a two-year retirement to coach a group that includes just two Grade 12s and three Grade 10s, got emotional in a post-game interview recounting that timeout and his message to the girls.
“I just said to them,” as he paused to fight back tears and collect himself, “‘You can do this.’ “These kids . . . we live and die by the three (pointer). ‘Keep shooting them. Don’t stop. This is what we do. We’re not going to stop what we do because they don’t go in.’
“They just responded so well, came out of the timeout and hit a couple.”
A 12-foot jumper by Grade 10 Caelyn Fitzpatrick – her only points of the game – was followed by a three-pointer from leading scorer Chloe Collins and, after a College Heights trey, four points from Adie Janke on a bucket inside and two free throws to allow Vernon to pull within one at 41-40.
Then trailing 45-43 with two minutes to go, the Panthers scored eight straight points to clinch the win.
“It was phenomenal to be part of that game,” said Tetrault. “Honored to be their coach today.”
Vernon’s defence was terrific, harassing Cougars’ shooter Summer Toor into a tough outing in which she converted just one three-pointer and missed on about eight others.
“Our defence was unbelievably great today,” said Tetrault. “I can’t even imagine we could play much better on defence.”
It was man-to-man for the full 40.
“I’ve tried to play zone in practice and it’s like ‘Naw, we don’t like zone.”
While turnovers and steals weren’t kept Thursday, the ball-hawking Panthers constantly disrupted the Cougars offence with quick hands and blanket coverage, particularly on inbounds play, forcing at least a couple of late College Heights turnovers.
And then there was the work on the glass, or more accurately lower to the floor where Joly was constantly sneaking down low to rip balls away under the basket.
“She’s like our leading rebounder and she’s just 5-foot-2,” said Tetrault with a laugh,
Collins was the Panthers top scorer with 14 points, while fellow guard Paige Leahy added 13. Guard Lorenn Cacares led the Cougars with 18.
College Heights head coach Wade Loukes, who was pleading for foul calls at times on his primary ball handlers, often with a polite “please,” said it was disappointing to see Caceres foul out and bruising 5-foot-9 forward Olivia Young also get into foul trouble.
“It’s tough when your two toughest players out there in a very physical game get fouled out like that. But my girls, they worked their asses off. It was a great effort.”
