With the sour taste of a first-round loss from last year鈥檚 sa国际传媒 Triple-A High School Girls Basketball Championship still fresh in his mouth, Rob Kinnear looks forward to better results at the 2013 event.
Kinnear鈥檚 Oak Bay Breakers are one of four No. 1 quadrant seeds heading into play at the Langley Events Centre.
Unfortunately, the opening opponent 鈥� the Burnaby South Rebels 鈥� is one of the 16 teams in the tournament that Kinnear knows little about.
鈥淚t鈥檚 funny, I think I鈥檝e seen every single team in the tournament play this year, except them, so there are lots of e-mails out this week trying to get scouting reports, calling in some favours from mainland teams who have seen them before,鈥� said Kinnear.
The two teams tip-off today at 10:15 a.m., the second game of the prestigious tournament.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a good feeling. It鈥檚 exciting,鈥� said Kinnear, whose troops won the Island championship over Claremont two weekends ago. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always the unknown going over there.
鈥淲e haven鈥檛 played the mainland teams in a bit, but I think the girls are pretty confident and excited to get it going.鈥�
As one of the top four seeds, much is expected of the Breakers, who departed Tuesday. So just what will it take?
鈥淭his time of year, people talk about shooting or amazing plays, but I think it鈥檚 going to come down to which team executes the fundamentals,鈥� offered Kinnear. 鈥淲ho defends the ball; who rebounds the ball; and who doesn鈥檛 turn the ball over.
鈥淚t sounds simple and silly, but in every semifinal or final at sa国际传媒鈥檚, it comes down to those three things. Fundamentals that every team has worked on since the first practice of the year which become that much more important.鈥�
With a win, Oak Bay 鈥� which is led by post Lauren Yearwood and guard Morgan Roskelley, both Grade 10s 鈥� would meet the victor of the W.J. Mouat Hawks-versus-Kelowna Owls game, the latter being the favourite.
Last year the Breakers were a top seed as well, but fell 61-50 to the Argyle Pipers in Game 1.
The Claremont Spartans will also represent Vancouver Island at the tournament and take to the hardwood against a tough Brookswood Bobcats team at noon, right after the Breakers get off the centre court floor.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e No. 3 [overall],鈥� Spartans coach Shawn Dheensaw said of Brookswood. 鈥淲e go in as No. 14. Quite honestly, I give South Kamloops the edge over the other teams, but after that, realistically, there are four or five teams that can take it.鈥�
Claremont faced Brookswood earlier in the season and lost by 24.
鈥淭hey are a better team,鈥� admitted Dheensaw. 鈥淚 want us to play them competitively. What I mean by that is, I hope our girls aren鈥檛 intimidated. They are a very aggressive team, so regardless of the score I want our girls to compete.
鈥淥verall for us, realistically, I think we鈥檙e playing for as high as ninth spot to 14th.鈥�
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