Skip to content

Hawks, Royals off to provincials

Rossland Secondary School Royals took the single-A title at the tournament in Rossland on Saturday.
31868traildailytimesSeniorbasketball-RSSvsCrowe-Seminoff2-27-13
The Rossland Royals Jess Seminoff drives to the hoop and the victory as RSS won the single-A high school Kootenay championship.

Greater Trail high school senior girls basketball teams absolutely rocked the weekend as the J. L. Crowe Hawks won the ‘AA’ Kootenay playdowns in Nelson, and the Rossland Secondary School Royals took the single-A title at the tournament in Rossland on Saturday.

The Hawks defeated host L.V. Rogers in a close 43-38 final, while the RSS Royals downed the fifth-ranked ‘A’ team in the province from Fernie 70-61.

Maddie Van Horn led the Hawks bucketing 12 points in the final, while team captain Alle Atkinson’s leadership helped settle the team in the final minutes of the game to preserve the win.

“The team, made up of primarily Grade 11’s, grew a huge amount throughout the season and peaked at the right time of the year,” said coach Kyle Percy in an email. “Senior’s Kennedy Keriaff and Karlene Sorenson both stepped up during the regional tournament leading by example with strong defence and hustle.”

The RSS Royals came back from a 30-22 half time deficit, pouring in 31 points in the third quarter alone to take the victory over a tough Fernie squad.

Annie Cameron led the Royals with 21 points, while Kaela Zimmer sank 14 points including a dramatic three-point buzzer beater at the end of the third to give the crimson-and-gold tons of momentum heading into the final quarter with a 53-43 lead.

“I thought we outshot them the first half, things just weren’t dropping,” said Royals coach Rick McKinnon. “I think we got them a little tired (in the second half) and we were able to run them down.”

The Royals head to the single-A high school provincials in Prince George on Mar. 4 while Crowe is off to the double-A provincial championships in Kamloops Tuesday.