Stymied slightly by the Seacove Seahawks’ 6-foot-1-plus post players, the St. Thomas More Knights studied the situation, looked at the score clock after one quarter, and knew what they needed to do.
Up by a single point after 10 minutes, the senior girls basketball team from Burnaby ramped it up and shut down Seacove’s main scoring outlets en route to a 65-52 victory at the STM senior girls Chancellor tournament final on Saturday.
Gabrielle Laguerta led the way with 26 points, while Zion Corrales Nelson netted 17 in a tilt that pitted the No. 2-ranked Knights against No. 4 Seycove.
Befitting the matchup, the Knights coach found plenty to chew on from a strategic point of view.
“We couldn’t get a press going (in the first quarter), they dumped the ball to their bigs (posts), we had a hard time controlling their big people but we slowly started to figure out a way to defend them,” remarked STM coach Joe Thierman. “They are a tough team to start.”
While the Seahawks narrowed the gap slightly, down to eight after three quarters, STM proved determined to defend its tourney title – and for the Grade 12s, grab as much momentum as possible for the upcoming playoff run.
“I don’t think we were too nervous, more focused,” said guard and tourney MVP Corrales Nelson. “For us (seniors) it’s our last Chancellor, our last Chancellor game so we wanted to come out with a bang. There were a little bit of nerves there throughout the game but we shook it off and came out with a strong win (Saturday).”
It was one of the goals entering the season, pointing towards an end line that hopefully leads them to March 5 in Langley.
After two years of finishing third overall at the Double-A provincials, the squad is eager to show that there’s no glass ceiling when it comes to St. Thomas More girls basketball.
“(There’s) always pressure – they know what’s at stake. We’ve had discussions and they know everytime we play a top ranked team it could change the rankings,” said Thierman. “Now, I don’t (care) about rankings other than its very important on where you are seeded into the Lower Mainlands and the provincials, so in that way it means a lot.”
Adversity has reared its head this year, but the kind on the court that serves as motivation. Earlier this month at the B.C. Catholic championships, the Knights sailed into the final before crashing into Immaculata, ranked No. 1 in B.C. The end result, a 50-49 loss, demonstrates that its within their grasp.
They applied that lesson at the Chancellor, with good results.
“The Chancellor is our tournament, so I made sure and the team made sure we came out strong… We didn’t want what happened against Immaculata where we kind of slacked in the first half and pushed back from a 15-point deficit. We wanted to stay strong from the beginning and all the way through and I think we did that.”
Their journey included an 84-51 win over Abbotsford, where the Knights stormed out to a 21-5 lead and never looked back. Corrales Nelson counted 18 points and Nadine Stewart chipped in 15, while Grade 11 forward Anabela Chiu tallied 11.
They also bested Lord Tweedsmuir 58-35, holding off an impressive rally by the Surrey school – who pulled within a point early in the second half before STM went on a tear. Corrales Nelson scored 18 points and Laguerta netted 16.
Picking up all-star honours at the Chancellor were Nikko Sahagun, Stephanie VonRiedemann and Laguerta.
