While the result wasn’t what they aimed for, the St. Thomas More senior girls basketball team can take their fourth-place finish at last week’s B.C. AA championships as a joint achievement.
They closed the tournament Saturday in Langley with an 86-69 loss to Immaculata in the third place game. A disappointing result but, as in the previous three games, the squad never surrendered or failed to push back after a rough stretch.
Ranked No. 3 entering the tourney, the Knights put it all on the court in Friday’s semifinal against No. 1-rated Duchess Park before falling 72-69.
A critical part of the semifinal and major edge for the Prince George school was in the opening half where they doubled STM in field goal percentage -- scoring on 45.7 per cent to the Burnaby school’s 22.5 per cent -- and dominated the boards.
The Knights were also decidedly cool in the first 20 minutes from beyond the three-point line, scoring just once on 11 shots and ended up trailing 40-24 after Duchess Park broke open a six-point game with a 21-5 run.
In the third quarter, More staged a fierce rally that pulled them within three points prior to the Condors’ Alina Shakirova’s three-pointer just before the buzzer.
The Knights battled and and briefly pulled ahead 62-61 on Gabrielle Laguerta’s bucket with 6:12 remaining. But the Condors kept circling, getting back in front and trying to increase the margin in a game where the lead traded places eight times.
A three-pointer from first team all-star and defensive player of the tourney Zion Corrales-Nelson and a penalty stripe basket by Nikko Sahagun again pulled STM within a point as the clock reached the final two minutes.
Tourney MVP Madison Landry put in three from the foul line en route to a 26-point day, and while Corrales-Nelson made it a two-point margin with 10 seconds left, foul issues cemented the win for Duchess Park, who would go on to win the B.C. title.
Corrales-Nelson led all shooters with 27 points, while Laguerta counted 10.
In the third-place game against Immaculata, second team all-star Nadine Stewart scored 22 points, Corrales-Nelson 20 and Laguerta chipped in 15. In the quarter-
finals, STM topped Vernon 76-54.
