The W.J. Mouat Hawks senior girls basketball team lost in the final of their Century 21 Classic home tournament on the weekend, but coach Paula Thompson wasn’t overly disappointed with the result.
The Hawks are, after all, predominantly a Grade 11 squad, and there’s no shame in losing to the Oak Bay Breakers, the No. 3-ranked AAA team in the province, when you’re still learning on the job.
“Personally, I thought the game went really well,” said Thompson, whose youthful squad is ranked No. 4 in AAA and fell 66-59 to Oak Bay in Saturday’s title game. “I just thought the girls played their heart out right to the end.”
Alicia and Cierra Roufosse, Mouat’s 6’2” twin sisters, are used to being the tallest players on the court, but they had their hands full with Oak Bay’s outstanding 6’3” centre Lauren Yearwood, who racked up 23 points en route to tourney MVP honours.
Alicia Roufosse and Amanda Thompson, who scored 20 points in the final, were tourney all-stars for Mouat.
The Hawks’ drive to the final began smoothly, as they cruised past Archbishop Carney (77-15) and Maple Ridge (65-45) in the first two rounds.
In the semis, they found themselves trailing South Kamloops by six points with 30 seconds left, but three-pointers by Callum Pilgrim and Denelle Hauck forced overtime and Mouat ended up winning 68-66.
The Hawks’ junior team also participated in the tourney, finishing 12th out of 16 teams, while the Rick Hansen Hurricanes finished ninth, beating Heritage Park, Walnut Grove and Penticton.
ROUNDBALL CLASSIC TIPS OFF
Hansen Secondary opened its Roundball Classic series of basketball tourneys last week with a junior girls event, and the host Hurricanes finished sixth.
Hansen beat Khalsa 23-16 in their opener, and suffered losses to Thomas Haney of Maple Ridge and Abby Traditional.
The Semiahmoo Totems of White Rock took the tourney title, beating Haney in the final.
PANTHERS FALL IN QUARTER-FINALS
The Abby Senior Panthers senior boys squad hosted early-round games of the Telus Classic at their gym last week, and ended up splitting their games.
The Panthers opened with a 101-75 win over R.C. Palmer of Richmond behind 34 points from Sirban Gill, 13 from Chase Claypool and 11 from Luke Tompkins, but fell 88-80 to Holy Cross in the quarter-finals despite Gill’s 32-point outing.