The ADSS Armada senior girls’ basketball team heads into the Christmas break on a high.
The Armada won first place at a tournament hosted by Duncan Christian School Dec. 14–15, beating a single A, provincially ranked team in the final to bring home gold. Then last week they handily beat the John Barsby Secondary senior girls’ team 75–23 in a home game.
“It was a surprise for us,” head coach Ryan Broekhuizen said of the Duncan tournament. “We played very well.”
The Armada played their first game against a team from Gold River, which they won. Broekhuizen said the game was special for its history, not its lopsided score.
“We played a team from Gold River and they played their first game ever,” he said. “It was such a neat experience for those girls.”
The Armada played Carihi High from Campbell River in their second game, the semifinal, edging them 38–32. That set ADSS up to face St. Andrews’ single A team in the finals. ADSS pulled off a riveting fourth quarter, Broekhuizen said.
“We were down nine points with five minutes left. A three-pointer from Memphis Dick, a three-pointer from Abby Broekhuizen and a three-pointer from Catherine Joe-Thompson tied the game. We didn’t allow them to score again.”
They held St. Andrews to a fourth-quarter score of 17-4 points in the Armada’s favour, and ADSS won 38–33.
Dick was named a tournament all-star. Ariana Johnson was the player of the game in the final for ADSS and Abby Broekhuizen was named tournament MVP.
“It was a really cool weekend for the girls,” Ryan Broekhuizen said. “We showed we can play really good defence. We’re not someone who is going to score a tonne of points but if we can get stops, we can win.”
During their game Dec. 18 against Barsby from Nanaimo, the Armada had control for much of the game. Barsby just had a changeover in coaching staff and are revitalizing their program, Ryan Broekhuizen said.
The Armada will play next in their home Totem 64 tournament, Jan. 10–12 at ADSS. They open Totem on Jan. 10 at 7 p.m. against Ucluelet Secondary.
FROM THE KEY…The Armada were supposed to host Kwalikum for a league game on Thursday, Dec. 20 but the game was cancelled thanks to the storm that pounded Vancouver Island.