Angels Win Tournament

The Angels knew they were in for a hard, physical game. The Owls used their size and strength advantage where possible, but the Angels had every answer on this day. The Angels got off to a fast start with their pressure defence and quick threes to take a lead 17-9 at the end of the quarter. The smaller LFA team was feeling the pressure of Kelowna's physical play, but kept up their determined effort. They also started to improvise on the fly using, getting some brilliant highlight-reel drives to the basket and shooting (and scoring) from all areas of the court. It was perplexing to the Owls zone defence.

By the third quarter, the Angels started to out rebound the taller Kelowna team as teh momentum started to swing. The packed their own end with a stifling double team defence, getting steals and creating multiple fast breaks. The lead grew to 37-14. The Angels closed out the game with well-deserved 59-40 victory for the gold.

Although several of the scores seems like blow-outs, they were hard fought wins. It was a deep tournament and, in every game, the girls gave up height to their opponents. They demonstrated versatility by being able to neutralize other team’s offence, showed they can score from anywhere on the court, but most importantly played hard but with sportsmanship. What else would you expect from an Angel? 

After the final, the Kelowna coach was very complementary about the level of competition and the play of LFA. It was a great sense of accomplishment not only to win your own tournament against the current top team in the province but set a foundation of a winning culture for the basketball program.

Experiences like these are always rewarding. For the Grade 9's in particular, the experience of winning intense, high-level basketball competition is critical to know what is required to win against great teams.

As of today the Angels are ranked #6 in the province. The Angels can't rest on the laurels as they play Notre Dame and Crofton this week then a provincial qualifier tournament right after term one exams. 

A big thank you for Coach Ramirez for organizing and running a great tournament while still having to coach the team. Thank you for the families and friends that came out and made it a special weekend for all.