The Handsworth Royals senior girls basketball team weathered a spirited challenge from a game but undersized Carson Graham team Thursday night before pulling away to claim the North Shore AAA banner with a 61-39 win.
The big, athletic, senior-heavy Royals came into the game as the No. 9-ranked AAA team in the province while the unranked Eagles threw out a lineup that seemed out-sized at every position. But that didn’t stop Carson Graham from putting a scare into their North Vancouver rivals, scrapping out of an early hole with a big second-quarter comeback to make the score 30-26 for Handsworth at the half.
The tide slowly turned in the second half as Handsworth unleashed their athletes in a full-court press that flowed into a wide-armed zone defence, causing numerous turnovers that turned into easy baskets for the Royals. A frantic stretch of tough defence from the Royals spurred a 16-0 fourth-quarter run that finally put the game out of reach. When the final buzzer sounded the scoreboard indicated a comfortable win but the home team seemed more relieved than anything.
“I’ll tell ya, that Carson – they’re a feisty, hard-working (team),” said Handsworth head coach Scott Palmer. “(Carson head coach) Cam Nelson should be really proud of them. … They were fabulous. I thought they played really well tonight against us. They came out ready to play, they shot the ball well and we looked nervous.”
Palmer was happy with how his team responded in the second half after struggling to handle the Eagles in the first half.
“I thought we looked a little uptight, we weren’t running stuff and we were missing shots that we usually make. … We just weren’t playing smart basketball,” he said. “Once we settled down and got focused, we started not turning the ball over and good things happened for us.”
The momentum shift started when the Handsworth defenders started using their bouncy legs and long arms to create some havoc for Carson Graham.
“We really did a good job of clogging the passing lanes,” said Palmer. “We caused some turnovers for Carson and that got us the ball back and got us a few easier hoops because we were struggling in the half court against them. Their zone was causing us to take some difficult shots.”
The Royals were led by forward April Christiansen who put up a monster stat line that included 22 points, 10 rebounds, seven steals and five assists.
“April Christiansen was just out of this world today,” said Palmer. “She’s been sick as a dog, coughing and hacking, but she was an absolute warrior today. … She came to play, right from the get-go. She’s tough to guard. She’s a good, savvy basketball player who takes the shots she can make.”
The Royals were missing starting guard Nicola Ros – an elite volleyball player who can bring it on the basketball court too – so other players stepped up during the second-half surge. Point guard Emily Burns was the only other double-digit scorer for Handsworth with 12 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Forward Logan Billard also had a healthy line of nine points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals while Julia Strigl came off the bench to grab nine rebounds in 15 minutes of play. Starters Oana Lapuste and Emily Wood, who was filling in for Ros, both helped the Royals crank up the defence, each scoring five points with four steals.
The Eagles were led by Georgia Nelson who scored 16 points with four rebounds.
Both teams will now turn their attention to this week’s Crehan Cup Lower Mainland championships. The top three teams at the tournament will all earn automatic bids into the provincial AAA championships while the fourth- and fifth-place teams will head into wild card matchups against Fraser Valley teams.
Palmer is hoping his crew will avoid the scramble by making it into the Crehan Cup final. The only other top-10 Lower Mainland team, second-ranked McMath from Richmond, is on the other side of the draw.
The Royals fell out of the top-10 rankings in January but vaulted back to No. 9 last week thanks to a win over fifth-ranked Riverside. Those roving rankings are indicative of a season spent looking for consistency,” said Palmer.
“We’re usually a top-10 team so it was disappointing when we fell out of the rankings,” he said. “That perhaps goes to our inconsistency this year. … If we play at the level that we are capable of playing, we’re going to make a lot of noise. But then we could lay an egg the next night. We’re trying to find a consistent 40 minutes in a game. The girls are really working towards that right now.”
This is an all-out year for the team considering that the entire starting lineup and seven of the 11 players on the roster are in Grade 12. The one young gun amidst the seniors is Strigl, a rare Grade 9 player on the senior team.
“She’s going to be a player,” said Palmer. “She’s got great hands, great finish around the hoop. She’s learning the game at senior. … She stepped up well for us tonight, played some important minutes.”
If they are going to make some noise at the Lower Mainland championships, the Royals will need to have a cleaner effort than what they showed against Carson Graham, said Palmer.
“Our decision making could have been better tonight. Let’s face it – we had 28 turnovers. You don’t win a lot of basketball games turning the ball over 28 times. We’ve got to clean that up for next week when we go into the Crehan Cup.”
They may get a chance to face those same Eagles right away. Handsworth will open the Crehan Cup tournament Monday night starting at 6:35 p.m. at Carson Graham. They’ll play the winner of a game between Carson Graham and Gladstone scheduled for Saturday after North Shore News press deadline. The Crehan Cup final will be played Saturday, Feb. 20 starting at 7:30 p.m. at Winston Churchill.
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The powerhouse Seycove Seyhawks senior girls – recently crowned North Shore Premier League champs and currently listed at No. 4 in the provincial AA rankings – claimed the North Shore AA banner with a 70-39 win over Windsor Thursday night at Seycove.
