The W.J. Mouat Hawks put in a solid effort, but the province’s second-seeded AAA girls basketball team were unable to unseat the top-ranked Brookswood Bobcats in the provincial championships final last Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.
In the fifth meeting of the season between the two teams – No. 1 Brookswood had won three of the previous four games – the Hawks fell 60-48 to the Bobcats.
Mouat had looked like they could upset the favourites and, after trailing by eight early, rallied to lead 30-29 at the half.
But the second half saw Brookswood’s defence come through as they limited the Hawks to just 18 points over the final 20 minutes.
Mouat’s Cierra Roufosse led her team with 15 points and Alicia Roufosse picked up player-of-the-game honours in what was Paula Thompson’s final game as the team’s head coach.
Thompson has left Mouat for a new role as a school counsellor at Abby Senior.
Penielle M’Bikata and Alicia Roufosse were both named first team all-stars, and Cierra Roufosse was named to the second team.
M.E.I., meanwhile, finished 2-2 at the tournament, beating Charles Best in their final game to finish seventh.
Taylor Claggett picked up an honourable mention and a Telus scholarship.
In the AA girls tournament, Rick Hansen finished at 2-2, but beat Vernon secondary 67-57 in their final game to claim 11th place.
Revine Gill averaged 15.2 points per game to lead Hansen.
Four Abbotsford schools sent teams to the junior girls championships. All won their final games, with Mouat beating New Westminster to finish fifth, M.E.I. dropping Claremont for the seventh spot, Abbotsford topping Seycove for ninth place, and Yale downing Westsyde for 11th.