The Alberni District Secondary School’s senior girls basketball team capped off an historic year by winning the annual Totem tournament at home.
Organizers of the longest-running high school basketball tournament in the province had to make some adjustments this year. The 66th annual Totem tournament—which was supposed to take place in 2021—had to be postponed to January 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Then it had to be postponed again to March, after new public health orders put into place in late December put all sports tournaments on hold.
But despite the delays, ADSS student athletes still managed to put on quite a show.
“Having fans again—that noise and that energy—is my favourite thing in the world,” said ADSS senior girls head coach Ryan Broekhuizen after the final game on Saturday, March 12.
“It was even good to see a lot of faces,” he added, as the provincial mask mandate came to an end on the second day of Totem 66 (March 11).
The senior girls won all three of their games over the weekend, picking up a 62-39 win against Kwalikum on opening night. They beat Belmont 85-71 on Friday, and capped things off with an 82-62 win against Pacific Christian School (PCS) on Saturday.
It was an emotional game for some of the Grade 12s, because it was also their final game of the 2021-22 season.
“This group has become like a family,” said Broekhuizen. “It’s been one of our most successful seasons in a long, long time.”
READ MORE: Alberni senior girls crowned Vancouver Island basketball champions
The last time an Alberni team won Totem was in 2014, during Totem 59, when both the ADSS boys and girls won the tournament.
This year, the ADSS senior boys finished second. They picked up a 69-67 win against Kwalikum to open the tournament in a close match that came down to the final shot. On Friday, they won 81-64 against Edward Milne. On Saturday, the boys lost 67-38 to a Carihi team that was “hungry” to win, said ADSS head coach Craig Brooks.
The format for this year’s Totem tournament was a little different than past years, as there were only four teams each on the boys’ and girls’ sides. The teams played a round robin format, with each school playing three games.
Caiden Meyer was elected the winner of the Totem Spirit competition at the end of the night.
Final results—
Boys Totem Champion: Carihi
Boys MVP: Marcus Shankar (Carihi)
Boys All-Star Team: Jordan Quissy (Edward Milne), Yianni Giakoumakis (Kwalikum), Lucas Milne (Carihi), Malcolm McAulay (Alberni), Blake Knoll (Alberni).
Girls Totem Champion: Alberni
Girls MVP: Jordyn Broekhuizen (Alberni)
Girls All-Star Team: Mikayla Eadie (Belmont), Jordyn Rioux (Belmont), Eden Kremier (PCS), Jenelle Johnson-Sabbas (Alberni), Fernanda Cota (PCS).
Girls Most Sportsmanlike Team: Kwalikum
Totem Spirit Winner: Caiden Meyer
elena.rardon@albernivalleynews.com
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B.C. High School BasketballPort Alberni
