St. Thomas More won a third consecutive medal at the B.C. high school girls’ basketball championships.
The varsity Knights, runners-up at the 2013 junior provincials and a bronze medalist last season, withstood an early fourth quarter rally to defeat independent rival Notre Dame Jugglers 70-62 to win a second third-place medal at the provincial AA girls’ hoop championships at the Langley Events Centre on Saturday.
Leading 51-45 heading into the final quarter, STM gave up the lead early in the period after back-to-back, game-tying three-pointers from first team all-star Laura Bondi of Burnaby.
Notre Dame teammate Trisha Francia then gave the Vancouver regional school a two-point lead from the foul line on two of her 18 points.
But STM had an answer. Nikko Sahagun replied with a trey of her own, one of four in the second half for the Grade 11 guard/forward.
Zion Corrales-Nelson led the Knights’ attack with 25 points, on nine-of-18 shooting, six rebounds, four assists and three steals, and was named a first team tournament all-star.
A day earlier, STM lost its semifinal 82-77 to eventual provincial champion Immaculata.
“It’s tough obviously,” Corrales-Nelson said of the semifinal loss. “But you get what you get. We fought the whole way.”
Corrales-Nelson scored 24 points in STM’s opening 65-57 win over Lambrick Park.
Honourable mention all-star Leilani Carney had 24 in STM’s 73-63 victory over Seycove in the quarter-finals.
Carney, one of five graduating Knight seniors, had 12 points in her final game, most of them coming at the charity stripe.
“It hurts, but it’s really nice to have a medal again,” said Carney after the game. “We worked hard for this and I think we really deserved this.”
Stephanie VonRiedemann chipped in with 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Knights.
Notre Dame’s Jolene Robinson, with 13 points, joined Bondi on the provincial first team.
“We gave it all we could,” said Bondi, who led all scorers with 29 points, including nine-of-15 three-pointers. “At the beginning of the year, we were wondering if we’d even get out of the Mainlands – We’ve come a long way. Overall, we’re happy with how we finished.”
Immaculata defeated Little Flower Academy 65-55 in the AA final. LFA’s Jessica Hanson, with a game-high 31 points and nine rebounds, was named the provincial MVP.
