Two of the biggest stars in the history of North Shore high school basketball have reunited for one final shot at a championship with the UBC Thunderbirds.
The circumstances that brought Kris Young and Diana Lee back together aren’t ideal — a debilitating back injury for Lee that eventually led to surgery — but the end result is that the two are back together making magic happen on the court.
It’s a reunion that didn’t seem likely after the pair’s incredible run at Handsworth. Young and Lee first met in Grade 4 on a Steve Nash Youth League team, became great friends in Grade 8 when they both started going to Handsworth and then started to make big waves in Grade 9 when head coach Scott Palmer wanted to not only put them on the school’s senior girls team, but contemplated inserting them into the starting lineup. It was an unprecedented idea that raised a lot of questions, but ultimately the move went through and it soon became clear that it was the right choice: The pair were dynamite.
By Grade 10 they were both already picking up all-star honours playing in tournaments against the best senior teams in B.C., and in Grade 11 they won their first provincial title with Lee earning MVP honours. One year later they defended their crowns, this time with Young getting the MVP nod.
The following year they went their separate ways with Young joining CIS powerhouse UBC and Lee jumping into the deep waters of the NCAA with Boise State. That seemed like the end of their run together — aside from a fun stint with the Canadian national junior team in 2011 — but Young said she never gave up hope that they’d one day be back in the same uniform.
“I started working on her the first year,” Young says with a laugh. “What are you talking about, Boise? You should probably change your mind, come to UBC.”
Young career’s took off with the Thunderbirds. In 2012 as a sophomore she was named a national championship tournament first team all-star after leading the team to the title game. One year later she was named the Canada West league MVP and earned all-Canadian status.
Lee, meanwhile, carved out a significant role with the Broncos but a back injury slowed her down and eventually forced her off the court. The diagnosis eventually came in as two herniated discs and, though she tried many different treatments, it became clear that surgery was the only option and Lee went under the knife on Feb. 26, 2014. It was a scary time.
“It was a long, grueling process to figure out things that might help me get better and get back on the court,” she says. “There were definitely some doubts of whether I’d ever come back, but once I made the decision that surgery was the last resort I just went ahead and did it and hoped that it would get me back on the court at some point.”
Then came the silver lining. Despite her injury, Lee finished up her social science degree in Boise, leaving her basically a basketball free agent with only three years on her eligibility odometer. Last summer she decided she wanted to give hoops another shot and started testing the waters at various schools looking for a place where she could play while also working on a kinesiology master’s degree.
When Young found out that her old friend was looking for a place to play, she went into a hard sell for UBC.
“I don’t know how much of it took, but I definitely put a lot of effort in,” Young says about her recruiting drive. “I just thought it would be a good fit. She knows a lot of the girls here, we’re really good friends. Even our parents coming out to games — they can carpool. It just made sense. I was like, ‘why would you go to any other school?’”
Young topped off her sales pitch with a friendly threat — she told Lee that if she chose another CIS school, Young would make her life hell on the court whenever they played against each other.
“I don’t think she wanted to play against me,” Young says.
“Definitely not,” Lee quickly answers. “That was also a factor.”
In the end the decision was a fairly easy one.
“It just kind of worked out,” says Lee. “Throughout the struggles and the low points that I had throughout that year and a half that I was out, it came with a great opportunity afterward with being at UBC, getting two years of eligibility and pursuing a master’s while playing with Kris — that’s quite the bonus.”
So far it’s been mostly smooth sailing. The Thunderbirds are 11-3 in league play and tied for first in Canada West’s Pioneer conference. They’re also ranked No. 3 in the country with Young and Lee leading the team in minutes per game. Young, a dynamic wing player, is putting together her usual stellar lines, averaging 17 points and 6.7 rebounds per game while chipping in other stats across the board. Lee, the point guard, is still recovering from her surgery but is already commanding the floor, leading the league with a 3.6 assist-to-turnover ratio, miles ahead of the second-ranked player. Her shooting hasn’t been up to her high standards but it’s also starting to come back.
“It’s still a work in progress,” says Lee. “It’s been a bit frustrating but my teammates and coaches have really helped me through it. I’m still learning a few things, but it’s just been awesome to be back on the court playing.”
“She’s making improvements every game,” says Young. “She fits into our offence and our style of play so well. She plays well with everyone here.”
Lee, meanwhile, says it’s been eye-opening to see what a leader Young has become.
“It’s just really fun to be able to play with her again and to see how she’s grown over the five years,” she says. “She’s become such a great player, but she’s still the same person that I know from when we left high school. . . . A lot of people ask us if it’s weird being back on the floor together. I think that it feels so normal. Maybe that’s what’s weird — there was no transition there. We just kind of picked up where we left off, just having a great time.”
Their old Handsworth coach Scott Palmer has been out to see the pair play and he likes the look of the team with Lee at the point.
“It’s taken some pressure off Kris. Diana can certainly handle the ball for them and get it up the court, so Kris has had to worry less about that,” he says. “It’s fun to see the two of them playing. It brings back old memories.”
Palmer still marvels at his luck in getting two transcendent players on the same high school team.
“I don’t know if you’ll see two together like that — every team has one of them every 20 years or so,” he says, adding that the pair came back to Handsworth last month to run a clinic for this year’s senior team. “It was fabulous to have them out there. You sort of feel old when you realize the two of them are out there coaching your senior team, and doing a darn good job of it.”
Lee is hoping to play her fifth and final year next season as she finishes off her master’s degree but for Young this is it — year five. The playoffs begin in late February and the Thunderbirds are expected to be one of the favourites. Young would love to finish off with her first CIS title but she’s doing her best to push away any thoughts about the end of her university career.
“Everyone wants to go out with a bang, but I haven’t played a single year where I haven’t wanted to win nationals and I didn’t want to play as well as I could,” she says. “I’m just trying to not think about it too much. I think I’ve played hard every single year and I’ve enjoyed every year.”
Whatever happens, at least she’ll be able to share it with an old and dear friend.
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The Thunderbirds are at home this weekend for a pair of contests against the University of Calgary. It’s UBC’s second last homestand of the season. Game times are 6 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday at War Memorial Gym.
