A pair of Mount Baker Secondary Wild basketball teams were in action this past week, as the senior and junior girls teams participated in the 2017 BC Secondary School Girls Basketball Championships at the Langley Events Center from March 1 to 4.
According to MBSS Athletic Director Kaley Wasylowich, the teams both “had a great week, played some very competitive basketball games, and represented the Kootenay Zone well.”
In their first game, the Mount Baker Junior girls were matched up against Surrey’s Panorama Ridge Thunder and were handed a 53-35 loss, ending their chances at a championship.
The girls then played the Nanaimo District Secondary Islanders, falling 50-42 in a tight affair.
In their final two games, the Wild picked up wins against the Vernon Secondary Panthers, 36-31, and Courtenay’s Georges P. Vanier Secondary, 35-20.
The pair of victories allowed the Wild to finish 22nd overall in the tournament, ahead of Vernon and Prince George Secondary.
In the Senior Girls’ bracket, the Wild competed in the AAA division and kicked off their tournament with a tough 73-36 loss to Victoria’s Oak Bay Secondary.
From there, the Wild lost to Richmond’s R.A. McMath Wildcats 54-40 and Nanaimo’s Dover Bay Secondary 76-68.
The team concluded the tournament, however, on a winning note, defeating Prince George 75-60. The victory gave the Wild a 15th spot finish out of 16 teams.
In the Junior girls tournament, the winning team was North Vancouver’s St. Thomas Aquinas Fighting Saints who defeated the Kelowna Secondary Owls 49-27 in the final match of the weekend.
Panorama Ridge, who knocked the Wild out of the championship bracket finished in fifth place.
In the Senior AAA tournament, the champions were Surrey’s Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary Panthers who beat the Abbotsford Collegiate Panthers by a score of 67-57.
Oak Bay ended up finishing in 5th place after knocking out the Wild in the first round.
The Wild Senior Boys kick off their Provincial run today at 10:15 a.m. in Langley with a game against the hometown Walnut Grove Secondary Gators.