The Port Alberni Men’s and Women’s Basketball Spring Leagues started their eight-week seasons last month. The men’s league plays three games every Thursday night at ADSS. The five-week regular season is followed by three weeks of playoffs to crown a league champion. The women’s league plays two games every Tuesday night at ADSS. The first six weeks are league play followed by two weeks of playoffs.
For both leagues, players signed up individually and were distributed amongst the teams by the league organizers. The season’s opening games are traditionally lower-scoring affairs as teammates are just familiarizing themselves with each other’s playing style.
Men’s League
The first three games opened on Thursday, April 20. In Game One, Boston Pizza developed a solid chemistry early and built a formidable early first half lead on the back of a 14-0 run. Dave Ralla mustered a second half comeback, closing the game out with a 9-3 run, but ultimately fell short. Gabriel Barbosa and Kieran Harding led BP’s scoring with 14 and 10 points respectively. Kevin Titian led the way for Team Ralla with 18 points.
The second game was a hard fought game with seven lead changes in the first half. The game remained close until the latter portion of the second half when Tseshaht Market opened things up with a 11-4 run. Tseshaht Market scoring was well distributed, but Brenden Lundy-Sam led them with 18. Ladybird Engraving’s scoring centered on Mike Lang’s 25 points.
The opening night of league play closed in dramatic style, with a nail-biter of a game. Neither team could sustain a lead for long, and neither were able to pull ahead by more than 7 points for most of the game. Ultimately the outcome wasn’t decided until the final minutes as Co-op mounted a last gasp 5-0 run. Colby Felsman led the game in scoring, for Co-op, with 28 points. Lloyd Felsman kept Twisted Willow Studios in the thick of things by scoring 21.
Game#1: Boston Pizza 59 – Dave Ralla 45
Game#2: Tseshaht Market 62 – Ladybird Engraving 49
Game#3: Co-op 70 – Twisted Willow Studio 65
As Week 2 of the men’s league opened, it was clear that team chemistry was more developed as scoring distribution and team defense was in greater supply. The night opened with two undefeated teams facing off, another trying to remain unbeaten, while the remaining try to avoid starting 0-2.
Boston Pizza swung the ball around, early and often, and saw 3 players score double digit points in this match-up. Adam Yaerdic led the charge for BP’s with 17. Tseshaht Market was in the thick of things throughout the entire first half, as well as the opening stages of the 2nd half, in large part due to Brenden Lundysam’s 20-point night, but found themselves on the wrong end of a 12-4 run to close out the night.
Co-op opened Game 2 with a 12-0 scoring run. It was a deficit that Dave Ralla tried to claw back from, but that early lead proved too much. The bulk of the scoring, for both teams, was largely done from two players that were seemingly unstoppable this evening. Sam Moncur led all scoring with 38 points, for Dave Ralla, while Coby Felsman pushed the pace for Co-op with 28.
The first half of Game 3 was a tightly contested contest which saw 6 ties and 4 lead changes. The second saw several scoring runs decent scoring runs, mostly in Ladybird Engraving’s favor, that led to a double digit lead. Twisted Willow Studio rallied, to close the gap to within 5 points, but were unable to get any closer than that the rest of the way. Ladybird’s Mike Lang was the game’s scoring leader, with 30. Bobby Rupert and Kenneth Johnson put up 17 and 12, respectively.
Game#1: Boston Pizza 65 – Tseshaht Market 51
Game#2: Dave Ralla 70 — Co-op 76
Game#3: Ladybird Engraving 71 – Twisted Willow Studio 61
Women’s League
The first two games opened on Tuesday, April 18. Teams battled it out during the first half. R. Schut Construction took control of the game with a 17-1 point scoring run after half time. Top scorers for R. Schut Construction were Mercedes Brown 23pts and Francine Charleson 15pts. AV Financial top scorers were Briana Anderson 17pts and Sam Jeffery 9pts.
The second game was hard fought. Tough defense was matched by each team. When the dust settled, RE/MAX pulled out a 62-43 victory. The top scorers for RE/MAX were Abby Broekhuizen 15pts and Mya Smith 12pts. NIC leaders were Reagan Dudoward 12pts, Kenna Harding and Mariah Netzer each with 8pts.
Game#1: Team R. Schut Construction 60 – AV Financial 36
Game#2: RE/MAX Mid-Island 62 – North Island College 43
In Week 2, both teams played fast, keeping the scores neck to neck. Game One was a challenging game for both teams with a high level of effort from each player. Top scorers for North Island College were Mercedes Brown with 36 pts and Laurissa Jimmy with 14 pts. Top scorers for R. Schut Construction were Danielle Lessard with 19 pts and Mariah Netzer with 13 pts.
The second game was played basket to basket. AV Financial took charge after half time leading with a 32-1 scoring streak. Top scorers for AV Financial were Memphis Dick with 15 pts and Norina Dass with 12 pts. Top scorers for RE/MAX Mid-Island were Kathleen Lundy-Sam and Abby Broekhuizen with 8 pts each.
Game #1: North Island College 62 vs. R. Schut Construction 60
Game #2: AV Financial 52 vs. RE/MAX Mid-Island 22
Thursday, May 4 schedule at ADSS:
6:30 Twisted Willow Studio vs. Dave Ralla
7:30 Boston Pizza vs. Ladybird Engraving
8:30 Tseshaht Market vs. Co-op