Stymied by the Seacove Seahawks’ 6-foot-1-plus post players, the St. Thomas More Knights studied the situation, looked at the score clock after one quarter, and knew they could do it.
Up by a single point after 10 minutes, the senior girls basketball team from Burnaby ramped it up and put a defensive cloak around Seacove’s main scoring outlets en route to a 65-52 victory at the STM senior girls Chancellor tournament final on Saturday.
Gabrielle Laguerta led the way with 26 points, while Zion Corrales Nelson netted 17 in a tilt that pitted the No. 2-ranked Knights against No. 4 Seycove.
Befitting the matchup, the Knights coach found plenty to chew on from a strategic point of view.
“We couldn’t get a press going (in the first quarter), they dumped the ball to their bigs (posts), we had a hard time controlling their big people but we slowly started to figure out a way to defend them,” remarked STM coach Joe Thierman. “They are a tough team to start.”
STM proved determined to defend its tourney title – and for the Grade 12s, grab as much momentum as possible for the upcoming playoff run.
“I don’t think we were too nervous, more focused,” said guard and tourney MVP Corrales Nelson.
“For us (seniors) it’s our last Chancellor, our last Chancellor game so we wanted to come out with a bang. There were a little bit of nerves there throughout the game but we shook it off and came out with a strong win (Saturday).”
The New Westminster Hyacks, meanwhile, finished the weekend 1-2 but still padded the resume for the upcoming regular season last dash.
New West couldn’t stop Seacove in the opener, falling 70-50 despite a 23-point performance from Grade 10 guard Sarah Forgie.
They rebounded with a tight 63-54 decision over Byrne Creek, which saw the Burnaby school lead 15-11 early in the second quarter before the Hyacks reeled off eight straight points to take a lead it wouldn’t surrender.
Forgie counted 30 points and Madisen Obrovac sank 18, while Byrne Creek got 19 points from Tienajia Colley.
In their final game, New West fell 58-53 to Abbotsford in the fifth/sixth place game.
In league action on Monday, New West defeated Moscrop 99-27, with Rhiannon Leidl scoring 33 points and four others reaching double digits.
