The McMath Wildcats are making sure they will good and battle tested when they resume play in 2020.
The senior girls basketball team is playing its fourth tournament in as many weeks, this time at Riverside Secondary School in Port Coquitlam. It will be more competition against ranked teams which is consistent of its December diet that will bode well for the Wildcats’ provincial championship aspirations.
Ranked third among 3A schools, McMath impressed in the provincial capital — finishing third at the 36-team Victoria Christmas Tournament. Highlights included wins against Manitoba powerhouse Oak Park High and the Riverside Rapids — ranked fifth at the 4A tier for large schools. All eight players available scored against the Rapids.
It was then off to the Howard Tsumura Invitational — a 16-team event at the Langley Events Centre.
McMath entered the tournament without 6-foot-2 Grade 9 standout Marina Radocaj who was in Toronto last weekend for Basketball Canada’s evaluation camp.
The girls still opened with a 74-46 win over Chilliwack’s GW Graham behind the 21-point performance of Liz Kennedy. Caitlin Kippan added 17 and Kate Carkner.
The Wildcats got off to a slow start against top 10 4A ranked Kelowna and never could recover in a 70-39 quarter-final loss to the Owls.
With a roster that features three Grade 9s, a Grade 10 and three Grade 11s, there will still be growing pains at the senior level for the talented squad and this was one of them. Kennedy, who is one of just two Grade 12s, was the only player attacking Kelowna’s aggressive defence with regularity as her team fell into an early first half hole.
McMath then closed out the tourney with a win over Yale then a 93-62 loss to Walnut Grove to finish sixth. The Wildcats will see the top 10 4A ranked Langley school again at Riverside, along with the No. 2 4A ranked Terry Fox Ravens.
The team’s January schedule includes two more tournaments at Heritage Woods (Port Moody) and Robert Bateman (Abbotsford), along with its lone Richmond league game against Steveston-London on Jan. 29.
The two tier one teams will see the rest of the city competition in the playoffs come February.
