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Superball basketball tourney tips off this week

Wellington senior girls and senior boys hosting three days of action
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Wellington Wildcats player Megan Duifhuis hits a long-range jump shot during a game against the Barsby Bulldogs on Tuesday at the Wellington Secondary School gym. GREG SAKAKI/The News Bulletin

In Nanaimo, coming back to school after the Christmas break always means coming back to the basketball court.

Wellington Secondary School’s Superball tournament returns this week, tipping off today, Jan. 10, at the high school gym.

Dave Brown, co-coach of the Wellington senior girls, says this year’s draw should make for a “pretty interesting tournament” and while he expects the Wildcats to be contenders, he said they’ll have to earn the wins they get.

“It comes down to how they play the game and who shows up,” he said. “And the guys are competitive this year as well, so it should be a very fun weekend.”

Wellington’s girls are coming off a comfortable 72-30 win over John Barsby in league play Tuesday and Brown said the team is coming along.

“The girls have bought into what their responsibilities and roles are on the floor when they’re out there, relative to where the ball is. It’s pretty basic stuff,” he said. “They’ve matured at the defensive end and picked it up well. I think offensively, we tend to rush things up a bit too much.”

Shayla Scott, Wildcats point guard, said her team has come a long way since the start of the season. She said there’s a core group that has experience playing together, others who are making contributions and a great team bond. It’s reason to be optimistic about the team’s potential this year, she suggested.

“I think we’ll do pretty good if everyone brings their A game,” said Scott. “When we play our game and we just take some time and think about it, we can do some good things.”

The ’Cats are looking forward to seeing that happen on their home court at Superball.

“I’m very excited,” Scott said. “It’s a really good way to get the crowd pumped up and get a good spirit going in the school.”

The other teams in the girls’ draw are the Wellington juniors, NDSS, Shawnigan, D.W. Poppy and Spectrum. The boys’ draw features Ladysmith, Parkland, Poppy, Brooks and Vic High.

GAME ON … The tournament tips off today, Jan. 10, at 3 p.m. with Wellington’s senior girls going up against Spectrum. Wellington’s senior boys will follow at 4:30 p.m. with a game against Parkland. On Saturday, Wellington plays NDSS at 2:30 p.m. and then the boys’ tournament final goes at 4 p.m.



sports@nanaimobulletin.com

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