The Seycove secondary senior girls basketball team defeated the Windsor Dukes in calmly dramatic fashion Wednesday night to win the school's first ever North Shore AA title.
The game was close all the way through with neither team leading by more than five points throughout. Down by two, the Dukes tied the game up at 5151 with just six seconds left on the clock, leaving the Seyhawks one final chance to win the game before overtime. Off a centre-court inbounds play, the ball found its way into the hands of Grade 12 guard Nicole Saxvik who drove to the basket and was unable to score but drew a foul to put herself on the free throw line with the win at her fingertips.
Two shots later the score was 53-51 and the Seyhawks were North Shore champions. The two points gave Saxvik 19 on the night, tied for team high with captain and point guard Jenna Krug. Saxvik is not automatic from the line but she came through when needed, said Seycove head coach Geoff Russell.
"She's not our best (free throw shooter) but she clutched up there, that's for sure"
Playing on their home floor, Seycove was favoured to win but Windsor gave them everything they could handle and his Seyhawks responded when they had to, said Russell.
"We were the favourites going into the game so there was some pressure there and I thought the girls handled it very well," he said. "It was a game that probably wasn't our best game but we fought through it. Windsor played amazingly well. . . . We weren't shooting probably as well as we usually do. But that happens - it's high school basketball. But credit Windsor, they played really, really tight defence on us and didn't allow us to get the kind of shots we would normally get."
Seycove took a bit of a gamble this season, moving up from the North Shore's Div. 1 league - populated for the most part by smaller AA schools - to play in the premier league against AAA powers Handsworth, Argyle and Carson Graham.
Last year Seycove played Div. 1 and went undefeated in regular season play but lost to Windsor in the North Shore final before ultimately finishing
sixth at the AA provincial championships.
"We went to the provincials last year but we hadn't played enough probably really tough games so when we got to provincials and had to step up we struggled a little bit even though we finished sixth, which we were still happy with," said Russell. "So we decided to play in the higher competition for our league (this season) so it would prepare us for games like Wednesday. That was challenging for us."
The gamble seems to have paid off - the Seyhawks held their own in the tough premier division, beating Carson Graham twice and playing close games against Handsworth and Argyle. There were no blowouts - their worst loss was 12 points to Handsworth - and the Seyhawks emerged a stronger, more battle-ready team.
"We held our own, we were very respectable," said Russell. "It was a good decision. It worked out very well."
They'll host the Lower Mainland AA championships next week with the goal of obtaining another trip to the provincial championships. And if they make it again this year they won't necessarily be happy with a sixth-place showing.
"We'd like to win it - that's the goal, that's been our goal from the start of the year," said Russell. "We're not going to be the favourites going in there but we think that if we're playing the way that we can play, we can take on anybody and be successful.
"We're playing quite well. Playing against higher competition, we've really been forced to play at a higher level and it's worked, I think. Our defence is quite strong and we're an athletic, fast team. We've played against the toughest competition in the province, AA or AAA, and held our own. We're confident and excited moving forward."
