After five season of domination by the Elgin Park Orcas, the Holy Cross Crusaders are on the verge of a string of championships at the Surrey Firefighters’ Goodwill Classic.
The Crusaders topped the Fleetwood Park Dragons 68-56 in Saturday night’s championship game of the all-Surrey senior girls high school basketball tournament at Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary, the second consecutive championship by Holy Cross.
The Earl Marriott Mariners placed third, after a 51-38 win over Cloverdale’s Lord Tweedsmuir in the third-place game Saturday.
Making a run at the five straight titles won by Elgin Park from 2006-10 is a possibility when considering the youth of the Holy Cross squad.
“Last year was no surprise, but this year was a big surprise to a lot of people,” said Crusaders head coach Steve Beauchamp, after his team outscored three opponents 231-101. “When you look our starting lineup with five grade 10s, you’re usually not considered a favourite.”
With just three Grade 12s on a roster of 13, the Crusaders dominated two opponents to advance to Saturday’s final, where Holy Cross took a 40-34 lead by half time and went on a 9-0 run midway through the second half for a 56-41 advantage.
A pair of Grade 10s did most of the damage. Tournament MVP (Most Valuable Player) Michelle Bos scored 26 points, while Rachel Beauchamp added another 20.
“I know Fleetwood has some pretty good players who have done some provincial team stuff, so you knew it was going to be a competitive game,” said coach Beauchamp. “It was a nice outcome for us tonight. They showed a lot of composure and I was impressed with that.”
• Seven players received $750 scholarships for post-secondary education, including, Yiga Phuntsok of the Earl Marriott Mariners, Gagan Shokur of the Tamanawis Wildcats and Hillary Janssens of the Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers.
• Fifteen players were named to the Firefighters Goodwill Classic Dream Team, including Chantal Colby of Earl Marriott, Janssens of Lord Tweedsmuir and Melissa Boettcher of Elgin Park.