Rebuilding teams have something to shoot toward
Duncan Christian School Chargers senior girls’ basketball team coach Michelle Nederlof can certainly sympathize with Chemainus and Ladysmith.
Both schools were hard-pressed to keep pace with host DCS and Cowichan Secondary in the DCS Welcome Back senior girls’ invitational tournament.
“One thing I really appreciate is teams like Ladysmith and Chemainus are trying to build programs again,’’ said Nederlof. “We want to see girls playing basketball again.
“It doesn’t seem like that long ago it was DCS at the bottom end, too.’’
DCS is in good shape now, with plenty of experience among its mere seven players on the roster.
DCS defeated Ladysmith 83-11, Chemainus 84-14 and Cowichan 50-26 in the four-team round robin to take top spot.
“We hadn’t practiced yet so it was a good way to show the rookies how it works for real,’’ said Nederlof.
With only seven players, Nederlof said quite obviously she can’t run a complete offense against a complete defence in practice.
The Bazinets — Becky and Brenna — and the Bakker twins — Olivia and Rachael — make up four-sevenths of the roster. Victoria Neufeld, Carli Paterson and Lauren King-Nyberg are the other members of the team.
Nederlof gave all seven a chance to shine in a more relaxed atmosphere during the lopsided games. It’s sure to get a lot tougher down the road.
“It was a really good way to practice some fundamentals, court position, those sorts of things,’’ said Nederlof.
Rachael Bakker, Courtney Jones (Cowichan), Kaylie McKinley (Ladysmith) and Emily Adams (Chemainus) were the all-stars of their respective teams in the tournament. Becky Bazinet was the MVP.
Rachael Bakker scored 30 points, Becky Bazinet had 21 and Olivia Bakker added 14 in the win over Ladysmith.
Rachael Bakker (26), Becky Bazinet (22) and Olivia Bakker (17) led the way against Chemainus.
Becky Bazinet netted 21 and Rachael Baker had 15 against Cowichan.
Cowichan beat Chemainus 82-7 on 15 points by Jones, 12 from Aleah Grier and 11 from Darian Hobday while Katie Porter’s 22 points, 13 from Jones and 11 more by Chelsea Dunaway set the scoring pace in a 75-14 win over Ladysmith.
Cowichan was without two of its best players.
“We tried not to talk to the kids about that,’’ said Cowichan coach Jim Nugent. “If they were hurt, we wouldn’t have them either.’’
In the DCS game, Nugent said Cowichan only trailed 18-12 at the half.
“We were right in it, but we couldn’t score. We missed 30 shots the first three quarters so we got our shots.
“Michelle’s team had more finish and it showed in the end. It wasn’t disappointing at all, other than the final we didn’t win.’’
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