Titanic provincial challenge
Tip-off today against New Westminster secondary will mark the first time a South Kamloops Titans female basketball team has competed at a BC High School AAA Basketball Championship.
That is something to be proud of, but the girls are not resting on their laurels.
"I don't think they're relegated to just being there," said head coach Corey Yamaoka, who has coached at the school for 10 years.
"They have a purpose and that is to win the provincial championship."
Winning a provincial title is a tall task, but so is winning a AAA Okanagan title, which the South Kam girls did in February when they topped the Kelowna Owls 85-46 in the Okanagan final.
"It's been such a journey," said Tess Bantock, a Grade 12 shooting guard.
"The first practice we were missing people from volleyball and it was just messy.
"As we've progressed, we've learned how to play with each other. We used to be very divided and now we're super well-knit. It's amazing to see how far we've come."
This year's graduating seniors — Bantock, Katie Hubbard, Hailey Sigalet, Maddy Adams, Brooke Dennill and Elsa Langill — will have help from a supporting cast that includes standout Grade 10 post Emma Wolfram.
She knows this is the last shot at provincial glory for her graduating teammates.
"They've played for so many years and winning it would be such a great ending," Wolfram said.
"Most of us have brothers and we saw them go to provincials and we really wanted to do that. It's great that we have the opportunity now."
The top five seeds at the provincial championship, in order, are W.J. Mouat (Abbotsford), Brookswood, Claremont (Victoria), Riverside (Port Coquitlam) and South Kam.
The Titans and New West get underway at 3:30 p.m. today in North Vancouver at Capilano University.
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