Douglas College did one better at the PacWest women’s basketball championships.
The Royal women, third-place finishers in the regular season, won a second consecutive silver medal at the PacWest provincials, following a 76-48 loss to undefeated and defending champion Quest University in the gold-medal final at Columbia Bible College last weekend.
In the semifinals, Douglas held off Vancouver Island University 62-57 on a 24-point effort from Chloe Kennedy to advance to the provincial college finals for a second straight year.
Kennedy was also the hero in the Royals’ 66-58 win in overtime over Kwantlen Polytechnic in the quarter-finals.
The third-year forward tied the game at the free-throw line and then nailed three three-pointers in OT to send Douglas into the semifinals.
“It’s a testament to the girls,” said head coach Courtney Gerwing. “We’re working for a (championship). It’s always our goal. But the bigger thing is we continue to make improvement and it makes it worthwhile in the end.”
The Douglas men’s team came close to advancing to the final as well but settled for a bronze medal with an overtime win over Capilano.
The Royal men outscored the North Shore university 109-97 in the consolation final at CBC.
Ethan McKean led all scorers with 27 points, including seven threes.
Rookies Martin Bogajev, with a team-high 20 points, and 2014 B.C. high school AAA MVP and player of the game Reese Morris, with 11 of his 14 points and nine rebounds in the second half, led the way for Cap.
Trailing by as many as 17 points at one stage of the contest, Douglas coach Denis Beausoleil was unsure his team could come back.
“We went a little smaller, brought in a few more shooters, which defensively helped a little bit,” Beausoleil said in a provincial press release. “We grinded back slowly – really in the end (points) just came in waves.”
Earlier, Douglas threw a scare into league runner-up Vancouver Island before dropping an 89-82 scoreline to the eventual provincial champs.
Player of the game Andrew Baron had a near triple-double to lead the Royals. The fourth-year guard scored nine points, while adding 12 rebounds and a dozen assists in the semifinal.
Douglas led off with a 79-66 win over Camosun in the quarter-finals. Jacob Juras posted a game-high 21 points for the Royals.
