They stood toe-to-toe with the Vernon Panthers for the first eight minutes, but the Okanagan squad would put the St. Thomas More Knights on notice with a surge they struggled to match.
And, when the dust settled Wednesday in their opening game of the B.C. High School 2-A senior girls basketball championships, the Knights suffered at the hands of the Panthers’ big players in a 65-50 loss at the Langley Events Centre.
Giving a gritty effort despite lining up against a trio of six-feet forwards – Vernon’s Kelsey Falk, Ashley Budgen and Mackenzie Horst – STM couldn’t match No. 10-seed Vernon on the boards and were tagged with a flurry of fouls in the first quarter.
The Panthers went five-for-11 and only trailed once, 9-8, when the Knights’ Shiloh Corrales-Nelson turned a steal into a nifty layup with 3:43 remaining in the opening frame. After Vernon edged ahead again, another steal, this time by Aurafel Domingo, was converted to tie the game.
After that, the Panthers took control.
They cashed in 12 unanswered points to roll ahead 23-11, and while STM drew within five points on Cassia DiGirolamo’s drive to the hoop with 2:30 left in the half, Vernon countered and held a six-point advantage after 20 minutes.
Despite not having their best game shooting-wise, the Knights made one more push to start the second half, with buckets by Corrales-Nelson and Julia Spagnuolo to trail 34-30. However, Vernon countered with a 12-3 roll to silence any comeback talk.
Vernon’s Falk, at five-foot-11, led all shooters with 20 points and was a dominant force at both ends. Budgen, a six-foot-tall Grade 10, tallied 17 points, while Horst, a six-foot-one post, was named player of the game for Vernon with 14 points.
STM got 14 points each from Grade 11s Emma Stewart-Barnett and Domingo.
They fell into the consolation bracket and met Mark Isfeld on Thursday (after the NOW’s deadline).
It wasn’t all bad on the Burnaby front at Wednesday’s opening round in Langley.
The junior Rebels moved on to the provincial quarter-finals with a polished 36-29 win over the Windsor Dukes.
On Thursday, they met No. 3-seed Yale (played after the NOW’s deadline) for a berth into Friday’s semifinals.
Windsor got a good start, pushing ahead by seven points in the first quarter. Burnaby South, who managed just 20 points two weeks earlier in a close loss to St. Thomas More in the Lower Mainland final, turned it on and made their shots count against the Dukes.
A 12-point surge that began late in the first quarter tucked them ahead 17-12, and while Windsor closed it to a point, the No. 6-seed Rebels ended the half up 22-16. They limited the opposition to just two points in the third quarter, and while bent some in the final frame, held on for a seven-point victory.
“We scrambled quite nicely, and defensively they adjusted in our end well,” remarked Rebels co-coach Norman Roberts.
The player of the game, Laini Glover, tallied a game-high 17 points, while Kirsten Cajalne chipped in seven.
“Half of our team is (Grade) 9s, and they’ve never been in a situation like this before,” said co-coach Steve Glover, referring to the slow start. “They brought the game around and got it under control.”
The St. Thomas More junior girls were unable to extend their winning streak from the Lower Mainlands, opening with a first-round 45-34 loss to North Surrey.
The Knights looked good for nearly three-quarters of the game, taking a 17-9 lead just prior to halftime.
After North Surrey made a run to tie it up to start the second half, STM reclaimed the advantage with a 25-18 lead. The opposition, however, corralled momentum on a seven-point run to tie it, and outscored the Knights 20-9 in the final frame.
Bella Gaspar led STM with 13 points, while Olivia Becner and Tatiana Yau tallied six each in support.
The Knights played Riverside yesterday (after the NOW’s deadline).
