The Nanaimo District Islanders and Royal Bay Ravens will need to bust more than a few brackets to make an impact in the 2019 sa国际传媒 girls鈥 Triple-A high school basketball championship, which begins today in the Langley Events Centre.
The Vancouver Island representatives 鈥 Nanaimo District is ranked No. 13 provincially after winning their first Island title in 29 years, and Royal Bay, ranked No. 14 鈥斅燼re among the 16-team field.
Nanaimo District shaded Royal Bay, a school which opened in 2015, by a 62-61 count in the Island championship game this month.
There is no doubt where the power schools are from this season with the top-four seeds all coming from the Fraser Valley 鈥 Semiahmoo Totems, Walnut Grove Gators, Riverside Rapids and Yale Lions. The first non-Valley team ranked is Kelowna Secondary with the Owls at No. 5.
Top-ranked Semiahmoo, led by six-foot-four NCAA Div. 1 Florida Gators-bound Faith Dut, is undefeated as it looks to track down its first girls鈥 sa国际传媒 basketball title in 66 years.
The core of the Ravens team has been together since success in junior high. Royal Bay gets the early-bird special today in the Round of 16 with the first game, an 8:45 a.m. start, against No. 3 Riverside of Port Coquitlam.
Nanaimo District, led by Island tournament MVP Sessaly Buck, meets No. 4 Yale of Abbotsford, at 4:45 p.m. The Yale team is of interest to fans of the University of Victoria with two Grade 12 Lions players headed to the Island as Vikes recruits 鈥 six-foot-two Tana Pankratz and six-one Brooklyn White.
The highly regarded Pankratz is considered a coup and one of the most dynamic high school players in the province.
鈥淭ana is one of the top players coming out of sa国际传媒 high schools and is a big part of the future for us, and someone we can build the next generation around,鈥 said UVic head coach Dani Sinlair.
鈥淪he was highly recruited and was No. 1 on our list.鈥
White, also a rugby star, is a 鈥渄ifferent type of player who brings physicality,鈥 added Sinclair.
Six-five centre Karsen Look of the No. 6 Brookswood Bobcats of Langley is another Vikes recruit playing in the sa国际传媒 high school tournament this week.
鈥淚 have known that I wanted to play for the Vikes from the moment I stepped into CARSA for the first time,鈥 said Look.
Meanwhile, the defending-champion South Kamloops Titans headline the sa国际传媒 girls鈥 high school Double-A hoops championship, also starting today with the Sweet 16 at the LEC.
The Island-champion Lambrick Park Lions are ranked No. 9 and Island second-seed G.P. Vanier Towhees of Courtenay No. 13. The Lions open this morning at 10:15 against the No. 8 Seycove Seyhawks of North Vancouver, while the Towhees meet the No. 4 Britannia Bruins of Vancouver at noon.
The quarter-finals in both Triple-A and Double-A are Thursday, semifinals Friday and final on Saturday, all at the LEC.