It is that time again for cool nights and warm gyms.
What is considered the Everest of girls junior high/senior high school basketball tournaments takes place Friday and Saturday in gymnasiums all over the region.
The 23rd annual Victoria Christmas Invitational features 48 teams in three divisions playing 87 games at Spectrum, Claremont, Stelly鈥檚, Belmont and Lambrick Park schools. Spectrum and Stelly鈥檚 will host the most games with action tipping off Friday at 11:20 a.m. and continuing through the final games at 9:20 p.m.
It starts up again at 9 a.m. Saturday, and the hoops Godzilla culminates with the championship games in the new CARSA Gym at the University of Victoria. The junior final is at 2:30 p.m., senior Gold Division final at 4 p.m. and senior Purple Division championship at 5:45 p.m.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a great event and probably the biggest girls鈥� school tournament in sa国际传媒, with many of the top teams in the province,鈥� said Gary Baker, commissioner of the Lower Island triple-A league, and coach of the Spectrum senior team.
鈥淚t really gives you a good indication for the rest of the season.鈥�
This is an unusual season in that much of the provincial power resides in the smaller double-A schools, such as Victoria tournament participants Immaculata from Kelowna, top-ranked in the province, and fourth-ranked Seycove from North Vancouver. Island double-A teams that will contend this weekend include sa国际传媒 sixth-ranked Ballenas from Parksville and the No. 14 Parkland Panthers of Sidney.
This weekend鈥檚 tournament will also feature the sa国际传媒 Triple-A top-ranked Brookswood Bobcats from Langley.
鈥淚n triple-A on the Lower Island, Oak Bay and Claremont look to be the teams to beat, with every other team close and battling in the mix following that,鈥� said Baker.
Oak Bay is ranked No. 6 in sa国际传媒 despite the graduation of Canadian U-19 team player Lauren Yearwood, now an NCAA freshman in the Pac-12 with the University of Oregon Ducks.
The Wellington Wildcats appear on the prowl this season on the North Island with the G.P Vanier Towhees of Courtenay also lurking.
In the junior division, Walnut Grove from Langley, Lord Tweedsmuir and Claremont are expected to be factors this weekend in the tournament and later during the regular season.
Yearwood may be gone, but there are some starry players emerging in her wake this season. They include Calli McMillan-Beaucamp from Claremont, high-scoring provincial-team player Olivia Mjaaland and the injured Sophie De Goede of Oak Bay, daughter of Canadian rugby legend Hans De Goede, a provincial team standout and an invitee to the upcoming Canadian national age-group assessment camp who has future national team aspirations in both hoops and rugby.
Following the Christmas tournament, Lower Island triple-A league play picks up on Tuesday with Belmont visiting Spectrum, Oak Bay taking on Reynolds, also at Spectrum, and Claremont travelling to Stelly鈥檚.
Belmont will host the triple-A Lower Island playoffs Feb. 11-13.
