Kevin BublitzCoach of NCS Senior Girls Basketball
The senior girls basketball team from Northside Christian School are finishing off their season strong. They traveled to Tumbler Ridge from Feb. 24 to 27 to compete in the North Central “A” zone championships.
At stake were three berths to the provincial championships in Duncan. In their first game, the #3 seeded NCS Northstars played #6 Fort Nelson Huskies, and came away with a 68-28 win. Charis Schlamp, Grade 11, led the way with 14 points, followed by Stephanie Ludwig with 12, and Nicole Bublitz with 11.
Their next game turned out to be the best game of the tournament; it was against #2 LDSS Lakers, with the winner guaranteed a spot at provincials. The game featured 12 lead changes, until the Northstars went on a 9-0 run late in the fourth quarter and took a 63-60 lead, only to watch LDSS come back and score a three-point shot with less than 30 seconds in the game.
Then off a fast break, Bublitz pushed the ball up to Julia Friesen, Grade 9, who scored the go-ahead basket. LDSS was out of timeouts, so the Northstars were able to hold on to the win. Schlamp had a big game with 26 points and Katie Wiens chipped in 19, followed by Bublitz with 12.
In the gold-medal game, #1 Cedars Christian Eagles from Prince George were too much for our girls, 69-52. Schlamp again led with 21 points and was named a first team all-star. Ludwig and Bublitz earned second team all-stars, and Friesen earned the sixth player award.
The team is now excited to travel to Vancouver Island on March 7 to compete in the 16-team single A championships. The North Central zone is seeded strongly, with Cedars at #3, Northside #8, and LDSS at #13. Northside’s first game took place on Wednesday versus Pemberton, a team they upsetted at a tournament in Valemount in late January. Pemberton was ranked seventh and the Northstars were not yet noticed provincially. Since then our girls have been turning heads with their strong play.
The single “A” tier is for teams that have 80 or fewer girls in grades 11 and 12. To view tournament results and info, the site is http://www.bcgirlsabball.ca/