The Claremont Spartans senior girls head coach has one goal in mind for this basketball season.
鈥淥ur expectation is to get off the Island,鈥� Dheensaw said of qualifying for the provincial triple-A championship.
鈥淥ak Bay is the cream of the crop,鈥� he added of his opponent after a 75-42 loss in league-opening Lower Vancouver Island triple-A league play on the Spartans鈥� home court on Tuesday night. 鈥淎fter that it鈥檚 a dogfight and I look at ourselves, Dover Bay and Mark Isfeld fighting for the next two spots.
鈥淚 give them credit,鈥� Dheensaw added of the Oak Bay Breakers, ranked No. 2 in sa国际传媒 鈥淭hey鈥檙e solid from No 1 down to No. 12 on the bench. Yes, we were missing our top player, but they were missing theirs as well.鈥�
Dheensaw鈥檚 daughter, Marissa, and Oak Bay鈥檚 Lauren Yearwood are both at a national Under-16 camp in Toronto, which took a little of the flair out of Tuesday鈥檚 matchup. But the absences just opened up spots for both benches, although Claremont鈥檚 was awfully thin, count-wise, on this evening.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e a great team and to get this win was important,鈥� said Breakers鈥� coach Rob Kinnear. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e had our number the last few years.
鈥淭hey are well coached 鈥� a good team. Even the score today wasn鈥檛 indicative of the game. Both teams went deep into their benches. They鈥檙e missing arguably their best player and having Dheensaw back will make a big difference.
鈥淭he ironic part is those two girls [Dheensaw and Yearwood] are best friends, they鈥檙e actually rooming together as their teams were facing each other here,鈥� added Kinnear, whose team looks prepared to go a long way this season.
Yearwood鈥檚 absence created a hole in the middle, which was immediately plugged by Danielle Cavelti, who filled in more than admirably with 20 points on Tuesday.
鈥淪he doesn鈥檛 often get a lot of minutes,鈥� said Kinnear. 鈥淪he鈥檚 one of our big girls, and with Lauren being gone Danielle made the most of it and then some. We talked about it beforehand and she responded.鈥�
The Breakers got off to a 6-0 run in the first quarter and took a 20-11 advantage into the second. A 7-0 run in the opening minutes of the second helped create a 37-21 lead at the half. It was 55-37 after three quarters before the Breakers ran off and hid.
Point guards Morgan Roskelley and Haley Cabral both play vital roles for their respective clubs, Oak Bay and Claremont, who are the top two teams in Victoria.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e both Grade 10s,鈥� Kinnear said of Roskelley and Yearwood, his two leaders. 鈥淭hey play a lot older game than their age indicates. Morgan does a whole bunch for us. The nice part about her is when your best player is a pass-first player ... we spend most of our time yelling at her to shoot more. She鈥檚 so unselfish.
鈥淥ur greatest strength is we鈥檙e very deep,鈥� added Kinnear. 鈥淚t鈥檚 awesome because we can go deep. At the same time, it makes it tough when you look at the bench and say, 鈥�;You鈥檙e a good player, and you鈥檙e a good player, and you鈥檙e a good player, and you can only put five on the floor.鈥�
The Breakers are benefiting from last year鈥檚 junior girls championship team.
The Spartans, meanwhile, will develop as they go along.
鈥淲e have three losses [including pre-season play], to the No. 2 team in the province [Oak Bay], No. 3 [Brookswood] and No. 4, Maple Ridge,鈥� said Dheensaw. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a real gap after the top six. We鈥檙e probably a No. 10-15 team, but there is quite a gap.鈥�
