Amanda Zacharuk scored 34 points to help bring the New Westminster Hyacks to within one win of a provincial high school championship berth.
The unranked Hyacks harried Richmond champion McMath from the opening tipoff and built an insurmountable 48-27 lead by half time following a runaway 21-10 second quarter at the Crehan Cup girls’ basketball championships at Massey Gym.
“I felt like our shooting was more on today,” said Grade 11 post Hannah DeVos, who finished with 12 points. “And all the wins we’ve had coming into the V&Ds is getting us excited. We can see it coming.”
Unfortunately for McMath, they didn’t.
New West started the game on an 11-2 run, playing an uptempo style that included 14 first-quarter points from Zacharuk, eight from DeVos and the first of two three-pointers from senior guard Sonia Heer.
The win put the Hyacks on a collision course with BurWest league and playoff champion Burnaby South in the Lower Mainland AAA girls’ semifinal to be played on Thursday at Handsworth at 8:15 p.m.
South, playing without its all-star guard Jasmine Manhas, weathered a possible first-round upset before eking out a 67-60 win over a scrappy Killarney Cougars team in the leadup game to New West’s quarter-final win.
In the other quarter-finals, Burnaby Mountain played provincial honourable mention Handsworth Royals tight all game long, but needed a big 20-point fourth quarter to upset the North Vancouver school 65-60 to move on against North Shore No. 2 Argyle.
Mountain led the Royals 32-28 at halftime, but trailed after being outscored 22-13 in the third quarter.
But a huge second half of shooting by Grade 11 guard Alix Gabriel, with five long-range treys, kept the Mountain Lions close, pulling the all-green to within three points with a minute remaining.
The rest was up to junior forward Jacey Bailey, who scored the team’s final eight points, including six of eight from the free-throw line.
“If we played our best there was a chance we could win, and we showed that in the first half,” said Bailey. “It proves we have what it takes to go to the provincials.”
Mountain plays Argyle Thursday at 6:35 p.m.
