They’re not the Walking Dead yet but the Alberni District Secondary School Armada senior girls basketball team are a little banged up and could use a rest, head coach Greg Freethy said.
The team is coming of a 55–31 win over Cowichan on Tuesday night. Armada guard Danielle Lessard scored 18 points.
The Armada played without Jami Oliver and Nicole Irg, who were both injured.
“We’re a little banged up right now and have some bumps and bruises to heal,” Freethy said. “The girls need some time to get healthy before we get down to the crunch.”
The team placed second out of six teams at the Dover Bay tournament in Nanaimo last weekend.
The Armada beat Kwalikum, Dover Bay and Burnaby North before dropping one to Abbotsford Christian by a score of 74–57.
“We lost Jami in the post, they zone defenced us and shot the lights out,” Freethy said.
The win against Dover was sweet revenge for an earlier loss by only three points.
Despite the loss against Abbotsford, the team is reaching its peak. They are 17-8 on the season and are averaging 65 points per game. “We need to tighten up on defense and rebounding but I like the path we’re on,” Freethy said.
The team is playing at Wellington this weekend and has one more league game against GP Vanier on Feb. 9 before the North Islands on Feb. 16, which the Armada are hosting.
It’s the third time around for the Armada, who made the Islands last year.
“I’ve always preached to them that they have to be good by February,” Freethy said. “Well, you can see that they’re aware it’s February.”
Meanwhile, the Armada junior girls were 2–3 at a tournament at Mark Isfeld in Courtenay last weekend. The team beat Wellington and Carihi and lost to Isfeld.
reporter@albernivalleynews.com