Kwalikum Secondary’s senior girls basketball team is done for the season, but they didn’t go quietly.
In the mix at the eight-team AA Sr. Girls Island Championships at Wellington Secondary in Nanaimo last Thursday and Friday, the Kondors opened against the St. Michael’s Blue Devils and lost 49-34.
“You know what, they played fantastic,” KSS coach Barry Bevilacqua said after, pointing out “we had our chances but we shot maybe 10 per cent (from the field). They were quality looks, they just didn’t fall, and the other team, it was like everything they shot went in.”
Raini Bevilacqua had a game-high 13 points. Miranda Cutherbtson had 12.
Back at it Friday afternoon for game two against Brentwood College — with the winner keeping their provincial hopes alive — the Kondors lost a 56-55 final decided at the buzzer.
“It was a heartbreaker,” confirmed Coach B.
The Kondors went on a 13-point run to go up 52-46 with five minutes left in the game. KSS was leading 55-53 with 10.2 seconds left when Brentwood stole the ball at half court with 8.6 seconds left. Then came a desperation shot by the Blue Devils that went in.
The Kondors, he said, “were pretty somber, but if you’re going to lose ... they didn’t get blown out. What can you say, everybody did exactly what we practiced.”
Four of the players on the roster of eight are graduating this year and the team loses three other international students.