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Burnaby South girls tack on another banner

Now the real fun begins.
South Rebels
The Burnaby South Rebels mark a successful Burnaby-New West senior girls hoop season, celebrating their playoff win Friday in the playoff final.

Now the real fun begins.

The Burnaby South Rebels demonstrated just how good they can be on Friday, locking up a second straight Burnaby-New West senior girls basketball playoff banner with a decisive 69-47 triumph over previously unbeaten Burnaby Central.

It sets the stage for their toughest assignment yet, as they jump into the qualifying fray that is the new Fraser North zone playdowns, which start today in Coquitlam.

The Rebels will watch Monday’s opening games to see how things flesh out in the must-win preliminary round, with their first test coming Tuesday, 3:30 p.m., against either host Gleneagle or a rematch against the same Wildcats.

No doubt Burnaby Central wants another chance, after seeing their perfect streak in league contests wiped out in last week’s final. At the same time, South was happy to serve up such a feast, after tasting their first loss of the season in their first league game, against those same Wildcats back on Dec. 10.

“It was a bit of a retribution game,” Burnaby South coach Cody Cormack said. “We lost to them the very first game of the regular season. We were hungry coming into it and knew we needed to want it more than they did, and we came out on top.”

Setting the tone early, the Rebels shot out to an 11-1 advantage and didn’t waiver. While Central would briefly get to within five points midway through the opening frame, Burnaby South closed the quarter with a 12-2 run. They’d rack up a 10-0 string midway through the second frame to essentially put their foot down.

Nadia Singh counted a team-high 16 points, while co-captain Awek Deng netted 15, with 13 of hers coming in the second half. Cashing in 10 points was Diya Sehgel, while Zayre Aspiras and Laini Glover added seven points apiece.

On the defensive side, Aspiras drew kudos from the coach for containing Central’s sharp-shooting Grade 9 guard, Jade Huynh, to just 13 points. Priya Dhaliwal led the Wildcats with 19 points.

“Zayre did a great job of locking down their best player (Huynh) – she hurt us pretty bad the first time we played them. All the credit to (Aspiras) for holding her to (13 points).”

For Deng, one of the team’s four graduating players, the banner win signals just a tip of the iceberg when it comes to potential.

“I knew we were capable of it, because all of our other games we had our ups and downs, but we know how great we can be when we’re all in sync with each another,” said Deng. “I think we went into this game wanting to work hard for each other and just take the banner home.”

They had defeated Burnaby North in the semifinal two days earlier 45-38, barely a week after cruising to an 89-44 victory over the same Vikings.

In the semifinal, North put up a fierce fight, getting 10 points from Janelle Yang and nine points and 16 rebounds from Taylor Tucci, to press the Rebels.

“We’ve had some peaks and valleys, (like) our semifinal against Burnaby North,” noted Cormack. “We struggled mightily so it seems we got that out of our system and came to play (against Central).”

For a team that out-scored its league rivals by a whopping 320 points – 51 more points than the Wildcats did – it appears that offence is the key. But the squad takes as much pleasure in shutting down the opposition.

“I think with us it’s a sense of working for each other and not for ourselves. When we’re on the court we’re trying to make our teammates proud, make our coaches and staff proud, and show them that all the work they’re putting in to us is worth something,” Deng said.

In the league’s third-place game, Burnaby North knocked off New Westminster 75-52, led by Tucci’s 23 points and 19 from Sophia Condilenios. The Vikings’ Sammy Gee was named an all-star, as was Central’s Dhaliwal and South’s Singh.

Five local teams now advance to the 12-team Fraser North regionals, where they meet the best of Coquitlam district and Maple Ridge.

Monday’s must-win premliminary games feature No. 5-seeded Central vs. No. 12 Gleneagle, No. 6 Dr. Charles Best against No. 11 Burnaby Mountain, No. 7 Burnaby North and No. 10 Maple Ridge, and No. 8 New West against No. 9 Centennial.

On Tuesday, No. 2 Heritage Woods plays the winner of Burnaby North/Maple Ridge at noon, No. 3 Terry Fox takes on the Charles Best/Burnaby Mountain survivor (1:45 p.m.), No. 4 seed Burnaby South squares off against the Central/Gleneagle winner (3:30 p.m.), and No. 1 Riverside plays the winner of New West/Centennial (5:15 p.m.).

Prior to the playoffs, Riverside stood ranked No. 2 in the 4-A provincial polls, while Heritage Woods and Terry Fox were rated fifth and sixth, respectively. That suggests it will be no mean feat to claim a top-three spot. Of course, polls are often proven wrong.

“We’ve only had the opportunity to play against Heritage Woods and I haven’t seen either Riverside or Terry Fox. If we play the same way we played today, I think we can compete with the top teams in B.C.,” said Cormack.