Basketball playoffs are about to hit the hardcourt.
Senior AA girls’ North Islands begin today (Feb. 12), with senior AA boys’ North Islands next week, and teams are continuing to find their form.
In senior AA boys’ league play Tuesday, the Barsby Blazers edged the 49ers 80-75. Michael Wyse hit four straight free throws in the last 30 seconds to seal the win and finished with a game-high 24 points. Chris DeGoutiere added 17. For Ladysmith, Kurt Olson had 21 points and Nick Hayton scored 16.
DeGoutiere said his team was sloppy and needs to do a better job extending the lead in games. Still, the team picked up another win that goes toward playoff seeding.
“There are a lot of expectations for playoffs,” DeGoutiere said. “We’ve come fourth or fifth every year for Islands. I want to go to provs; so does everybody else. We do it for football, so we’ve got to do it for basketball.”
The Dover Bay Dolphins senior AAA boys were winners Tuesday in league play, beating the Alberni District Armada 84-60 over the hump. Quinn Mirau was Dover's player of the game with 25 points and six assists.
The Ladysmith 49ers senior AA girls won a play-in game Tuesday against Highland to grab the final playoff berth at this week’s senior AA girls’ North Islands at Parksville's Ballenas Secondary School.
The tournament should be hard-fought. There is more parity this year with perennial powerhouse Wellington going in as the No. 3 seed behind Ballenas and Mark Isfeld. Carihi and No. 5-seeded Nanaimo District are also in the mix for one of the four berths at Islands.
“One of those teams isn’t going to make it, so it’s going to be pretty competitive,” said Nicole McRae, coach of the Wildcats.
She said her team played well at a weekend tournament on the mainland, keeping it close against provincially ranked Holy Cross despite a short bench.
"We've been playing as a team with a lot of effort lately, so that's nice to see at this time of year," McRae said.
GAME ON … Today (Feb. 12) at North Islands, Ladysmith plays Ballenas at 1 p.m., Nanaimo District takes on Carihi at 2:45 p.m., Wellington meets Kwalikum at 4:30 p.m. and then Barsby is matched up with Isfeld at 6:15 p.m.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com