The Pen High Lakers won two of three games in the Junior Girls Valley Championship Feb. 10 to 11 at home.
The Lakers ended the championship with a 50-21 win over the Maggie Mustangs. Kali Loewen and Emma Terris led with 10 points, while Jennifer Hayman led with seven rebounds and Kalli Doell and Hayman each had five steals.
“The highlight of the weekend was the chance for Russ Reid and I to coach against Dave Killick (Maggie head coach) in his final game,” said Lakers coach Chris Terris. “We’d both worked with him over the years. Dave is a first-class guy and a long-time coach in our district. His presence in the game as a coach will be sorely missed. It was an honour to be part of the game.”
The Lakers opened the championship with a 74-18 win over Charles Bloom (Lumby). Loewen led with 14 points. In their second game, the Lakers lost 52-34 against the Okanagan Mission Huskies. Loewen and Doell led the team with nine points each. Terris said after the Lakers shot 46 per cent from the field and 60 per cent from three-point range in the first game, the wheels fell off. They shot 21 per cent from the field and went two-for-22 from three-point range.
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“It’s a crazy game sometimes. We got good looks but couldn’t toss a pea in the ocean,” he said. “We’d beaten OKM in January in a hard fought game. They were the more tenacious and determined team on this occasion.”
The Lakers are seeded No. 5 for the provincial tournament. They receive a bye into the second round and will play the winner of the Mt. Baker (Cranbrook) and Panorama Ridge (Surrey) first round game. Lost by two points to Panorama at the Kelowna Sweet 16 tournament a few weeks ago.
“We’ve got a challenging draw, but by the time that you get to the top-16 at provincials, there aren’t any weak sisters,” said Terris. “On a positive, there’s quite a few teams on our side of the draw that we’ve already played this year, including Whistler—a potential second-round opponent—and KSS. There’s something reassuring about being familiar with teams.”