The McMath Wildcats will be heavy favourites to win next week’s Crehan Cup Lower Mainland AAA Girls Basketball Championships but they're not going to get the chance celebrate the potential triumph on home court.
The province’s No. 2 ranked team was slated to host the final three days of the 16-tournament until learning earlier this week the school gym had been inadvertently double booked with an outside user group. The Steveston Kendo Club uses McMath for its invitational tournament that has annually been held the third week of February.
School officials scrambled to find an alternate gym near by for the girls basketball. In the end, Churchill volunteered to host, including next Saturday’s championship game slated for 7:30 p.m. Ironically, it could be the honourable mention Bulldogs meeting McMath in the title game.
The Wildcats will get to host Thursday’s semi-final round and, barring a major upset, will be playing for one last time on their home court at 8:15 p.m. They begin play Tuesday in the quarter-finals at Carson Graham, facing the winner of an opening round match-up between Hamber and Richmond High.
The Wildcats cruised to yet another Richmond championship this week, capping a dominating run with an 82-39 win over McRoberts in Thursday’s final.
McMath opened with an 83-23 win over Burnett, then rolled past McNair 99-31. The Strikers road to the final included earlier wins over MacNeill (53-30) and a tough 49-45 semi-final triumph over Cambie.
The win also capped a perfect five-year run in city play for Wildcat seniors Jessica Jones, Jessica Zawada, Justine McCaskill and Hannah Partridge —capturing the Grade 8, Grade 9, Junior and Senior titles along the way.
Jones was named the Richmond League MVP. The all-star teams included:
First Team: Jessica Zawada (McMath), Bobbi Jo Colburn (McMath), Tia Tsang (McRoberts), Kirsten Abo (McNair), Amrit Dhaliwal (Cambie).
Second Team: Natalie Cook (Richmond High), Mikee Macpagpal (MacNeill), Maggie Campbell (Steveston-London), Tonya Basran (McNair), Bianca Kozica (MacNeill).
