Shawnigan Lake School's senior girls basketball team held off strong challenges from Duncan Christian and Glenlyon Norfolk last weekend to win the Stag Classic tournament for the second time in three years.
The Shawnigan girls went into the last game of the tournament on Saturday, against Duncan Christian, with wins in their first two contests and needing one more to clinch the title. It wasn't an easy victory, as the hosts needed overtime to defeat the Chargers.
"This turned out to be the most exciting game of the year so far," said Shawnigan coach Darrin Austin.
Shawnigan trailed 27-18 after two quarters, but a halftime pep talk helped change the tide. Shawnigan moved ahead 36-32 heading into the fourth quarter, but needed a layup with eight seconds left in regulation to tie the score at 58-58. The home team never trailed in overtime and won 72-62 to clinch the tournament.
Casey Crowley was an easy choice for Player of the Game, with 43 points. Lauren King-Nyberg led the Chargers with 25 points, including six three-pointers, while Danielle Groenendijk had eight points and 14 rebounds to earn DCS's Player of the Game nod.
The tournament kicked off on Friday with DCS beating Chemainus 54-28 behind a 26-point, 19-rebound effort from Player of the Game Juliet King. Emily Guest led Chemainus with nine points. Also on Friday, Shawnigan dominated the second half of their match against GNS, winning 35-26. Crowley led the way with 18 points, while Shelby Ibbotson's work on defence earned her Player of the Game honours. Saturday morning saw Shawnigan defeat Chemainus 52-27.
"Chemainus is a young, inexperienced team so we knew going into the game that we were going to make sure our juniors saw lots of playing time to get more game experience," Austin said Ibbotson took a star turn on offence and put up 14 points, while Avery Champion and Gaby Morton shared the Player of the Game award for their all-around play. Guest again paced Chemainus with a game-high 24 points. Duncan Christian's showdown with GNS turned out to be the close game everyone expected, and GNS escaped with a 48-45 victory. King led DCS with 23 points and 16 rebounds, while King-Nyberg was Player of the Game with 13 points.
Guest once again led Chemainus in the Cougars' last game, scoring 14 points in the Cougars' 51-26 loss to GNS.