Junior Basketball Angels Win Tournament

Parent Contributor
Ranked the top team in the Seycove Junior Basketball Tournament, LFA's Junior Team powered their way to gold, earning themselves a first-round bye at the Junior Provincial Championships.
What was at stake to win the Seycove Tournament Gold Medal game? A trophy and a great deal of satisfaction? Yes, but as the Angels win over Port Moody’s Heritage Woods Kodiaks earned them an berth and a first-round bye at the Junior Provincials, no matter the results of the zone playoffs. After dispatching Argyle earlier in the day in the day and an afternoon of team bonding, the Angels came our flying and scored the first four points. They continued to carry the play with wave after wave. For all their attack, they could not get the ball to fall and Heritage Woods took advantage, pushing back to lead 11-10 after first quarter. In the second quarter, Kayla Canama ’19, the eventual tournament MVP, injured her ankle as she tried to split through a wall of Kodiaks. The girls found themselves behind 21-13 and their key point guard injured: really for the first time this season, the Angels were facing real adversity. In the final two a half minutes of quarter two, successive rainbow three’s by Ceili McCabe ’19 and Alexis Fong ’19 closed the gap to two. The Angels defence stiffened and weathered Heritage Woods offence with Ashley Velasco ’19 skying over the taller Kodiaks and Allison Kuzyk’s ’20 battling and defending the low post area. Ava MacFarlane ’20 or Sharon Luk ’19, Ceili and Alexis patrolled the perimeter and found success disrupting passes and shots. With a minute or so left on the clock, Ceili hit another triple to cap a stunning momentum switch and recover the lead 22-21 on the strength of a 9-0 run.
 
In the third quarter, with a 26-22 lead, Kayla returned with her ankle well-taped by a knowledgeable parent, although she was noticeably a step slower.  LFA then went on to play run and shoot basketball, outscoring Heritage Woods 37-22. Each time the Kodiaks got within striking range the Angels would stick a timely three point dagger or drop down a double. To close out the last three minutes of the game the Angels put on a “Harlem Globetrotter” like passing clinic. Playing keep-away on each possession frustrated the Kodiaks. Quick pin-point passes had the Kodiaks chasing... which opened space, allowing the Angel to surprise with a quick open look catch and “shoot deuce”. It was a hard fought, physical 59-43 win for the tired Angels side.
 
The players celebrated their win debuting to the parent supporters their locker room pre-game routine, a circular, partnered stomp and dance off,  finished by a coming together cheer. You know it has truly become a team when even the shyest of players got into it performing. Ceili McCabe was chosen as a tournament all-star but all the Angels deserved a star, as this was a real team effort from the very first tip-off on Friday. This weekend, Angels were scoring at an incredible rate of 2.12 points per minute.
 
A big shout out to the team managers for filling water bottles, Coach R.’s leadership and to the parents for taking care of things so that the girls can concentrate on basketball. Congrats to the girls! The win jumped LFA from #6 to #2 in the provincial rankings. With the trip to the provincials assured, the next goal is to finish and win last two final league games this week against St. Patricks and York then repeat as Junior League champions next week. GO ANGELS!
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