Winning a championship at any level is gratifying, however, beating a geographical rival makes it that much sweeter.
That’s what the Nechako Lakes Elite U17 girls basketball team had to do at the Western Canadian Championships last week in Calgary, edging Bulkley Valley 48-45 in the final.
The program consists of high-school aged players attending Nechako Valley Secondary and Northside Christian in Vanderhoof as well as Fort Saint James Secondary.
Nechako went 3-1 in round robin player collecting victories against a pair of Rise Basketball Academy teams based out of Calgary winning by scores of 57-14 and 38-34.
The Lakes also slipped past NXT Elite Basketball 52-24. The lone blemish was a 41-25 defeat at the hands of Bulkley Valley.
Lyric Kessler added it was good to get back at Bulkley Valley after such a tough loss.
“For me, it was seeing all of us coming together in difficult games. When we are down, like we were in the final game, to the team we lost to in the round robin and having that game put me down a little bit and seeing us all work together to get ahead is really memorable.”
The road to the championship was anything but easy for Nechako. The team, which mostly consists of U16 players, had to answer the bell six times in three days, with only seven or eight players available.
Most teams when they are shorthanded at tournaments run out of steam, but head coach Brad Van Dolah came away impressed with the moxie and mental resolve to push through.
“There were times I wasn’t sure we were going to have the energy to play and they always found another gear. They always found a way to have us win. That shows how dedicated this group has been.”
“They hard to work really hard, log a lot of minutes and show grit in order to play and win that many games. We are playing up an age bracket most of the time, which has been good for the girls in seeing bigger, stronger, faster players helping them with the pace of their game and things like that.”
Heidi Olesiuk echoed the coach’s sentiment stating the shorthanded roster allowed players to step in and thrive in roles they usually wouldn’t get.
“Lots of girls stepped into roles they haven’t done before. We didn’t have our usual point guard and Maddy stepped up and a girl on our team from Northside stepped up. We worked really well together.”
Matty Lantz said most of the team is playing up in age group, which is a big plus for your development.
“It honestly pushes us a lot to be better and much stronger team. Especially going back to our school teams too with seniors it pushes you and helps you a lot and know the game better.”
“We’ve played on the same team for about two years now and we have also played on different school teams. Northside hasn’t had a team for the past few years but I know NVSS has and we have played against them in tournaments and league games and they have gone back and forth but they all have been very good.”
The Lakes turn their attention to B-ball Nationals, July 31-August 3rd in Langley.
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