It proved to be a bittersweet week for the McMath Wildcats at the Lower Mainland AAA Girls Basketball Championships.
The province’s fifth ranked team took care of business by nailing down the school’s first-ever B.C. AAA berth with authority. The Wildcats wanted to make a little more history and they came agonizingly close to doing so.
Looking to become the first Richmond school to win the Crehan Cup in 16 years, McMath saw a comfortable halftime lead evaporate in a 60-58 loss to the seventh ranked Handsworth Royals on Saturday night in New West.
The Wildcats used a 14-2 run to close out the first half to take a 33-22 advantage into the intermission. However, a seven point third quarter opened the door for the Royals to storm back and set the stage for a terrific finish that saw McMath come up just short.
“We had some easy shots and easy baskets that we just didn’t finish,” said head coach Anne Gillrie-Carre. “These girls have come through in so many games before but tonight we just didn’t have the finish we needed.
“It’s a learning experience and we can’t be burying ourselves with the provincials coming up. But the kids saw the history with the Richmond schools and wanted to come here and do it.”
The final proved to be McMath’s first competitive game in weeks.
They opened the Mainland’s with a 50-27 win over Hugh Boyd then crushed Churchill 67-36 in the semi-finals. Those results came on the heels of winning three games at the city championships by scores of 62-14, 73-23 and 73-27.
Conversely, Handsworth lost the North Shore championship game to honourable mention Argyle then avenged the defeat just over a week later in the Mainland semi-finals.
Gillrie-Carre was well aware of the potential lack of competition and lined-up exhibition games and tournaments against quality opponents throughout the season. However, there is little she can do about it in the crucial homestretch.
“It’s hard to get opportunities to compete at that level,” she said. “Right from the when these kids were in Grade 8 it’s been about finding enough competition. You look at what those teams in the Fraser Valley have to go through and it can make such a difference.”
Saturday’s final was the first time the Wildcats had seen Royals in two years. Handsworth applied full-court pressure through much of the night and provided extra attention for U17 provincial team guard Jessica Jones.
The Wildcats athleticism allowed them to get the ball up the floor with regularity and they even outscored the Royals when Jones was getting a breather in the late stages of the second quarter.
When the McMath's offence finally heated up in the final 10 minutes it was the defence that suffered too many breakdowns. Handsworth also had a key Grade 12 to rely on in crunch time and Alanna Martin’s experience showed in nailing down tournament all-star honours.
“Having one or two Grade 12s in that situation is huge,” added Gillrie-Carre who had four Grade 11s and Grade 9 Lyric Custodio on the floor down the stretch. “They played a box-in-one on Jessica and that’s the first time we have seen it consistently all season. It’s something we never seen in our league and we have to do some work against that.
“We were looking at a similar schedule (at provincials) win or lose and now we have to come back hungry from this."
The B.C. AAA Championships are slated for March 4-7 at the Langley Events Centre.
At the buzzer…
Jones and Justine McCaskill were named tournament all-stars.
With the team basically intact for next season, the Wildcats have put in a bid to host the 2016 Crehan Cup. The London Legends happened to have home court advantage when they prevailed back in 1999.
