The Crehan Cup's curtain call provided three games-in-one and a valuable lesson for a young McMath Wildcats team headed to BC girls basketball’s biggest stage next week.
The Argyle Pipers 3-peated as Lower Mainland champions with an 88-67 win over the Wildcats at Lord Byng Secondary on Saturday night. The tournament is over after 51 years with B.C. School Sports’ new zones coming into play next season. Richmond teams will be part of the South Fraser Zone and will compete against Surrey and Delta schools for provincial qualifying.
The Wildcats were looking to become just the second Richmond team to hoist the Crehan Cup in 18 years but their North Vancouver opponent had different ideas.
Some red-hot shooting in the opening half resulted in a 50-33 Argyle lead at the break. McMath came storming back with a terrific third quarter to cut the deficit to 64-62. The Pipers then swung the momentum back for good by outscoring the Richmond champions 22-5 over the final 10 minutes.
The huge run came after a pair of 3-point attempts rimmed out that would have given the Wildcats their first lead of the night.
“We just couldn’t quite get over (the hump). I felt if we could have just got that one more hoop it would have given us what we needed,” said co-coach Chris Kennedy. “I don’t remember remember a team shooting that well (in the opening half). Give Argyle full credit. They did a really good job on defence too.”
The Pipers had obviously done their homework on what had McMath riding a 20-game win streak coming into the final.
They made life miserable for Grade 8 standouts Marina Radocaj and Caitlin Kippan with a smothering zone defence — every time they touched the ball. They also had the size to match-up with the 6-footers, never mind years of experience too.
“They recognized they had a lot of Grade 11s and 12s and we have a lot of Grade 8s and 10s,” continued Kennedy. “They were getting physical with us which was really smart.
“Our older girls had a little bit better time of it but it’s really hard for a 13 year-old to go up against an 18-year-old who is out there to put a hand on your back every time.”
The Wildcats should see plenty more of it as they prepare for next week’s BC AAA Championships at the Langley Events Centre.
They are expected to be among the lower seeded entries thanks the Fraser Valley featuring eight of the top 10 teams in the province. Kelowna and Okanagan Mission are the others.
“We are not going to be getting away with Grade 8s getting that much space so it was good for us to see. That’s the challenge of being in Richmond where we don’t get a lot of battles (before regionals),” Kennedy added. I’m glad we battled and didn’t pack it in and halftime.
“I know there were a lot of questions of having Grade 8s and even Grade 10s on the team. Now we get play biggest stage with all these young girls and 10 of them will be back next season. I’m super excited to be going back to the provincials with this group.”
Among the young players to shine Saturday was Grade 10 guard Abby Bodden who had her best game of the season with 17 points to lead her team’s comeback bid. Liz Kennedy added 16 and joined the remarkable Radocaj on the tournament all-star team. Jayna Wilson chipped in with 10 and Morgan Flynn also provided a spark off the bench with eight.
