Today marks the beginning of a provincial basketball tournament that will see two long-time North Vancouver rivals fighting for the coveted championship.
Saint Thomas Aquinas secondary and Windsor secondary are two of the favourites for the trophy at this year's B.C. Secondary School AA Girls Basketball Championships. The yearslong rivalry is sure to make for exciting basketball if the two meet in the fateful final game.
"Whenever we meet, it's a war," said STA's head coach Anthony Beyrouti. "(The girls) have been competing against each other since Grade 8, so when we play against them, we play harder against them, and they play harder against us," he added.
In the last five games, each contest has been close, with STA winning a December 2013 one-point overtime squeaker, and Windsor winning the last two rivalry games by three points or fewer.
Talking about why the games are so close, Windsor's head coach Peter Sprogis pointed to the countering skills of both teams. "We have some big people, big posts and we both have good shooters. We're pretty much evenly matched," said Sprogis, adding that the deeper bench of STA has given them an edge over Windsor.
The stars of both teams are their point guards.
STA's Vanessa Botteselle has an ability to create scoring chances by driving in deep past would-be defenders.
On the other side of the court, Windsor's Sherrie Errico leads the team with a good outside-inside scoring strategy that is hard to beat when it's working, according to Sprogis.
The coaches from both teams were quick to praise the skills of the other squad, with Sprogis applauding Botteselle's court penetration and the overall tough defence of STA and Beyrouti proclaiming that Windsor's Errico is "arguably the best player in the province."
"Errico is tough, so it's fun to watch (Errico and Botteselle) go against each other, as every step of the way it's back and forth and is just very entertaining," said Beyrouti.
Though there is a lot of anticipation of the final game this Saturday taking place between the two North Vancouver titans, both coaches are more hesitant to call an STA-Windsor showdown just yet. Both
Beyrouti and Sprogis are concerned about Burnaby's St. Thomas More school, though both admit they would love to go head-tohead against their old rivals in the championship game.
"I anticipate a close game," said Sprogis about a possible final showdown against STA. "I have no doubts, unless we get really lucky or (STA) gets unlucky."
"(The game) would be nothing less than a really close game, just like the last times we've played, though we're looking to take care of business from the beginning and really just focus on getting to the end," said Beyrouti.
The championship takes place at the Langley Event Centre, with Windsor starting off the provincial competition against Prince Rupert's Charles Hays Secondary at 10:15 a.m., while St. Thomas Aquinas will face off against Trail's J.L. Crowe at 3:30 p.m.
