Burnaby South dodged an upset and Burnaby Mountain pulled off the biggest one so far in the Crehan Cup girls’ basketball championships.
South, playing without its star guard Jasmine Manhas, were forced to play catchup for much of the game before pulling out a 67-60 win over a scrappy Killarney Cougars squad in the opening quarter-final game of the Lower Mainland AAA girls’ basketball championships on Monday.
The Rebels lost their first-quarter momentum and fell behind 35-32 at halftime as the physical Killarney gang clogged up the low post and outrebounded South all game long.
A strong eight-point third quarter by Ana Lukic brought South even late in the third quarter.
But it was Amie Morrison, with 10 of her game-high 25 points in the final period that sent the Rebels through to the semis.
“We should have won by more, but we’re missing players and players are injured. You have to adjust and we adjusted,” Morrison said.
Desiree Lister scored 20 points for South, including eight-for-12 from the free-throw line. Lukic finished with 14.
Jazmin Aure led Killarney with 19 points, including three second-half bombs.
In the other quarter-finals, New Westminster overwhelmed Richmond No. 1 McMath 78-60, while Mountain upset provincial honourable mention Handsworth 65-60.
Mountain led the Royals 32-28 but fell behind after being outscored 22-13 in the third quarter.
But a huge second half by Grade 11 guard Alix Gabriel with five long-range treys kept the Mountain Lions close, pulling the all-green to within three points with a minute remaining.
The rest was up to junior Jacey Bailey, who scored the team’s final eight points, including six of eight from the free-throw line.
“Yeah, it feels pretty good – really good – amazing actually,” said the 5-11 forward, who chipped in with 19 points, 10 of them coming in the comeback fourth quarter.
“If we played our best there was a chance we could win, and we showed that in the first half,” added Bailey. “It proves we have what it takes to go to the provincials.”
Mountain could earn a spot into the provincial girls’ AAA championships with a win over Argyle on Thursday. Tipoff is at Handsworth at 6:35 p.m.
South and New Westminster will duke it out in the other semifinal, also at Handsworth, following the Mountain/Argyle matchup.
