The B.C. U16 girls basketball team was in exhibition action at Ballenas Secondary School, facing a combination of Kwalikum and Ballenas Secondary players.
The U16 Central Island team has three locals looking to crack the 10-player roster in Kate Reynolds, Makayla Hoey and Maya Gayton.
All three are in Grade 9, both Reynolds and Hoey attend BSS while Gayton was in her first year at KSS. Hoey played for the senior team at Ballenas alongside her sister Chelsea and was a key piece in their season.
The team will have 13 players, including 10 on the main roster with three on-call in case of injuries or another player not being able to play.
The combo team, dubbed Team Oceanside for the exhibition, saw girls from Grades 9 to 12 on the squad. Both high schools were well represented and it was a strange sight to see Michaela Witte, Gracie Yacoboski, Alex Shaw and Kaylee Melissa donning the blue and white Whalers uniform.
Witte is in her final year at KSS, while Yacoboski is in Grade 11 and both Shaw and Melissa are in Grade 9.
“It was funny to see them both in the other team’s jersey, I’m sure they had a good chuckle about it,” KSS athletic director Butch Gayton said. (No final score was available at press time.)
“It’s good to see all those girls playing together as a team though, it just goes to show the love they all have for the game of basketball which speaks louder than any name on the front of their jersey.”
For the three girls looking to make the U16 team, they’ll have a chance to fine tune their skills and look to impress a little bit more before they take part in provincials at the end of May.