Kwalikum Secondary School’s scrappy senior girls basketball team is through to the Island finals.In action in Mill Bay at Brentwood College as part of the eight-team AA Sr. Girls North Island basketball championships, the K-Birds opened the tourney last Thursday with a solid 52-38 win over the Mark Isfeld Ice.KSS led 6-4, 17-12 and 35-18 by quarter. Miranda Cuthbertson was top scorer with 17 points, Angelina Gastadello had 11 and Raini Bevilacqua chipped in with eight.The girls, KSS coach Barry Bevilacqua said after, “played well. Good win through good team basketball.”Things didn’t go quite so well for KSS in Saturday’s game against the Spartans, as it was “all Cedar from the get-go,” in a 50-29 loss. “We knew they would press us, we prepared for it Friday at lunch, came out and could not execute and the girls could not muster anything after the poor start in the first quarter ... just one of those games you want to forget,” said coach B. Back at it Saturday morning against the Wellington Wildcats with the final berth to the Island finals up for grabs, the Kondors stayed focused and clawed out a 41-36 win.Cuthbertson led charge with 14 and Gastaldello dialled up a dozen. KSS closed out the tourney that evening in the third-fourth game against the host team, “and Brentwood hit a crazy hail marry three pointer off the glass with 7.8 second left to win 53-52,” said Bevilacqua. Cuthbertson finished with a game-high 24 points, Gastadello had 14 and Tara Freeman fed the net for 11.Guard Carly Nellist “had her best defensive game of the season holding their star point guard to 9 points,” said coach B., who also had props for Michaela Witte and Sophia Deborba, who “played fantastic off the bench.” The K-Birds now turn their attention to the eight-team Island Championships in Victoria this Thursday through Saturday. The top teams automatically advance to the provincials in Kamloops March 7-12, with the third place finisher playing a challenge game against a Mainland team on the Island in a Neutral site game for the final berth to the B.C.s.