It was third-time lucky for the Carson Graham Eagles senior girls basketball team as they knocked off the Argyle Pipers to win the North Shore AAA title Wednesday in front of a boisterous crowd at Argyle secondary.
The Eagles scored a 65-59 win to earn the North Shore banner, avenging two earlier losses to the top-ranked Pipers. Georgia Nelson led the way for Carson Graham with a game-high 29 points, while forward Tanis Metcalfe dropped 12 points and Gabby Channon chipped in with 11.
“We had a battle the whole game,” said Carson Graham coach Cameron Nelson, adding that his team focused their efforts on limiting Argyle’s dynamic duo of Georgia Swant and Sierra Scheffer. “We got some key scoring from players who don’t shoot very much, so as a team we came out ready to play.”
The win earned Carson Graham an opening-round bye in the Lower Mainland’s Crehan Cup championships which run Feb. 11-15 at Argyle and wrap up with playoffs Feb. 16-18 at Lord Byng. Carson’s first Crehan Cup game will take place Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. at Argyle.
The Pipers will begin their Lower Mainland playoffs with a matchup against a wild-card entrant Saturday, Feb. 11 at 10:30 a.m. at Argyle. Pipers head coach Anthony Beyrouti is hoping his team will bounce back from their stumble in the North Shore final.
“The game was a hard fought battle, it was great to see so many fans out to the game from both sides,” he said. “Hopefully we can take care of business at Lower Mainlands and get an opportunity to play (Carson) again.”
At the AA level the powerhouse Seycove Seyhawks scored an 87-39 win over Windsor on Wednesday to complete an undefeated season against North Shore competition. Sage Stobbart, Kayla Krug and Lindsey Bott led the way for the Seyhawks with Bott hitting eight three-pointers in the North Shore final to set a new school record for threes in a game.
The Seyhawks will host the AA Lower Mainland championships Feb. 14-17, heading into the tournament as the defending champs and No. 1 seeds.
Seycove finished second at the provincial championship slast year and are currently No. 1 in the provincial AA rankings.
The girls AA and AAA provincial championships will both be held March 1-4 at the Langley Events Centre.
