With playoff season at its peak, several Langley high school basketball teams are battling at various Fraser Valley championship tournaments in hopes of qualifying for their respective provincial championships.
And some have already accomplished that feat.
The Brookswood Bobcats senior girls team won both of its games earlier this week and are guaranteed to finish no lower than fourth place at the AAA tournament.
The top-seed Bobcats hammered the North Surrey Spartans 118-29 on Monday and then followed that up with a 77-41 win over the No. 8 Fleetwood Park Dragons.
Both games were played at Brookswood.
The Bobcats play in the Fraser Valley semifinals on Friday at Abbotsford’s W.J. Mouat against the fourth-seed Yale Lions.
Also alive at the tournament are the 11th-seed Walnut Grove Gators.
The Gators lost their opener, 68-31 to the No. 6 Gleneagle Talons, but stayed alive thanks to a 68-59 win over the No. 14 Fraser Heights Firehawks.
Walnut Grove plays No. 5 Maple Ridge..
In the AA senior girls tournament, D.W. Poppy faces Heritage Park at Surrey’s Holy Cross.
And in the Single A championships, Credo Christian faces Langley Christian in the semifinals on Friday at Surrey’s Southridge Secondary.
The gold and bronze medal games will be played at Trinity Western University on Saturday.
In the junior girls Fraser Valleys, Brookswood and Walnut Grove, seeded sixth and seventh, respectively, are still alive after winning their opening round match.
The Bobcats beat No. 27 Clayton Heights 57-29 on Monday while Walnut Grove hammered Semiahmoo 54-10.
No. 25 Credo Christian lost 55-38 to No. 8 Holy Cross while No. 29 Langley Christian lost 58-26 to No. 4 Maple Ridge.
In Grade 8 girls play, No. 5 Brookswood moved to the second round with a 37-14 win over Panorama Ridge.
But No. 21 Walnut Grove lost 31-22 to Clayburn, No. 17 Langley Christian lost 28-24 to No. 16 North Surrey and No. 19 Credo Christian lost 38-33 to No.14 Tamanawis.
On the boys side, the Walnut Grove Gators are seeded second out of the 32 teams for the AAA championships. Walnut Grove is also one of the regional sites for the first three days of the tournament. The final two days will be at the Langley Events Centre on March 2-3.
The Gators open on Wednesday against No. 31 Sullivan Heights in an elimination game.
At the AA championships at Port Coquitlam’s Archbishop Carney, both R.E. Mountain and D.W. Poppy face elimination games.
Both Langley Christian and Credo Christian are in action at the Single A championships, which began last night (Wednesday). The tournament is at Langley Christian until Friday with the gold and bronze medal games at Trinity Western on Saturday.
Walnut Grove was the lone of the four junior boys teams to survive the first round.
The Gators, seeded sixth, thumped No. 27 Chilliwack 59-20 on Monday. They faced No. 24 Johnston Heights last night (Wednesday) with a spot in the eight-team championship draw on the line. The final eight play today to Saturday at Surrey’s Fleetwood Park.
No. 20 Brookswood lost 47-39 to No. 13 Sardis, No. 24 Credo Christian lost 56-32 to No.9 W.J. Mouat and No. 29 Langley Fundamental lost 77-30 to No. 4 Tamawanis.
And at the Grade 8 boys championships, Walnut Grove and Brookswood both survived the opening round and are one victory away from the final eight.
The second-ranked Gators hammered G.W. Graham 70-9 while No. 12 Brookswood edged L.A. Matheson 38-37. Walnut Grove plays Eugene Reimer tonight (Thursday) at 7:30 p.m. at the Langley Events Centre while the Bobcats draw Southridge at Abbotsford’s Robert Bateman.
No. 17 Langley Fundamental lost 42-29 to Thomas Haney and No. 20 H.D. Stafford lost 39-24 to North Delta.