Bringing down a tall, athletic Oak Bay Breakers senior girls鈥� basketball team will be one tall order, but Dover Bay Dolphins coach Rick Hart would look forward to the challenge.
The Dolphins play host to the Island quadruple-A championship starting today in Nanaimo.
鈥淭hey are the target,鈥� Hart said of the Breakers, who are two-time defending Island champions, but more impressively, have been ranked No. 1 in the entire province for most of this season. 鈥淲e鈥檒l see when we get there. We have some road bumps along the way.鈥�
Play begins at 2 p.m. with the North No. 1 seed Dover Bay facing Spectrum. That鈥檚 followed by Claremont versus G.P. Vanier at 3:45 p.m.; Stelly鈥檚 tackles Port Alberni at 5:30 p.m.; and South No. 1 Oak Bay meets Cowichan at 7:15 p.m.
Semifinals are set for 5:30 and 7:15 p.m. on Friday and the championship game tips off at 6 p.m. Saturday, following the bronze-medal matchup at 4 p.m.
The top two teams advance to provincials from March 1-4 at the Langley Events Centre and the third-place team can challenge its way into the sa国际传媒 championship.
鈥淵ou want to win that semifinal, at the least, to get to the final. That鈥檚 our goal,鈥� said Hart, whose Dolphins are led by his daughter, Madeline Hart, and Sophia Fan, both Grade 12s. They will also have the home-court advantage.
鈥淲e should have a good crowd out, a sea of blue and hopefully that will get us motivated and going. Not only that, but we鈥檒l be sleeping in our own beds and there鈥檚 less travel,鈥� said coach Hart.
The Dolphins are likely to face Claremont in one semifinal and the two teams recently met up in a tight clash in which Dover Bay pulled out a narrow victory.
Both Dover Bay and Oak Bay enter this event without a defeat this season and have each won three tournaments, the Breakers claiming the more prestigious ones against higher-ranking teams provincially.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e big; they鈥檙e athletic; and they can shoot. They鈥檙e strong inside and they play good defence. It鈥檚 a pretty good team,鈥� Hart said of the Breakers, who have been in the hunt for a sa国际传媒 title the last few years.
Coach Rob Kinnear鈥檚 Breakers finished third in the province the last two years, were second in 2014 and third again in 2013.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely the goal,鈥� Kinnear said of winning an Island title first. 鈥淭he expectation is to play as well as we can and hopefully the result takes care of itself. It鈥檚 another step towards our ultimate goal.鈥�
Kinnear and his team, which is led up front by by six-foot-two Georgia Alexander and six-foot-one forwards Sophie De Goede and Imogen White and six-foot Natalie Froese, will not be looking past this event, however.
鈥淢addy Hart is a phenomenal player and her dad is a phenomenal coach,鈥� Kinnear said of the Dover Bay combo. 鈥淗e鈥檚 been coaching guys ball forever and ever. He switched over to make this run with his daughter and her friends.鈥�
And now both these teams may be looking to stop each other鈥檚 perfect run.
