Skip to content

Isfeld junior Ice girls open hoops season with tournament gold in Victoria

web1_231209-cvr-s-jricewgirls-1_1
The Mark Isfeld junior girls’ basketball team started their season 4-0 and winning the 12 Tip-Off Tournament in Victoria. Picture: back row, (from left) coaches Luke Robinson, Colin Cunningham and John Boccabella. Font row (from left), players Nayelle Farvaque, Gillian Galik, Ariana Seymour, Amelia Kuhn, Jayla Robinson, Makenna Banks, Rylan Boccabella, Lola Ciara Gomez, Phoebe Cunningham, Lillianne Bourget, Sophia Priestman, Janel Follis, Cate Shaver. Photo supplied

The Mark Isfeld junior girls’ basketball team started their season 4-0, winning the 12 Tip-Off Tournament in Victoria.

The tournament featured all of the top junior teams on the Island including last year’s provincial runner-up Oak Bay. Isfeld started the tournament by soundly defeating Charles Best (Vancouver). Friday night, the girls avenged a loss from last year by defeating Royal Bay 32-21 to advance to the semifinal.

Saturday morning the Ice found themselves up against one of the host teams, the Claremont Spartans in front of some boisterous homecourt fans. Luckily, Isfeld had lots of support from their own fans and families, helping them build a 25-point lead in the second half. All players saw court time and contributed to a 52-36 victory.

It was a long first weekend and the worry was that fatigue might affect the final outcome vs SMUS from Victoria, a consistently great program for girls’ basketball. It was a back-and-forth battle with many lead changes, but Isfeld was able to dig deep and outwork their opponent in the fourth quarter for a 54-49 championship score.

“A great all-around team effort to start the season,” said coach Colin Cunningham.