Lightning strikes again: second title in three years for Langley Christian

(story by Erick Dominguez)

For the second time in the last three seasons, the Langley Christian Lightning hoisted the BC School Sports 2A Girls Basketball Championships provincial banner after a 75-69 win against the number one-seeded Mulgrave Titans on Saturday (March 2) at Langley Events Centre.

The game was a rematch of the 2022 championship game, where the Lightning broke through in a 70-60 win over the Titans for their first title in program history.

The Lightning came into this year’s 2A finals after a heartbreaking loss the year prior, coming up short against Pacific Christian in the semi-final’s dying minutes.

Once the game began, it was clear the Lightning were prepared for the moment, as they jumped ahead to an early lead following a 6-0 run,and did not give the Titans a chance to catch up, as they maintained their lead comfortably heading into the second half.

By the halfway point, the Lightning led the Titans 39-29, and showed a strong defensive game plan, forcing the Titans into committing a whopping 15 turnovers by halftime. Additionally, Langley’s Payton Brunoro led the scoring for the first half with 12 points and two 3-pointers. 

Once both teams returned from the halftime break, the dynamic of the game began to shift. The Titans rattled off a13-4 run, trimming the Lightning deficit to single digits. Despite seeing Mulgrave come back to tie the score in the third quarter, the Lightning’s coaching staff remained calm and shared that mindset with the team. 

“We just had to weather the storm,” said head coach Danie Gardner. “(Eva Ruse) was doing great things and we just had to contain her, to get our moments we just had to weather the storm and do what we can.”

As the game reached its final minutes, both teams exchanged shots before a 3-point shot from Payton Brunoro – who was later named Championship Player of the Game – gave the Lightning the lead for good.

Once the final horn sounded and Langley Christian had won its second title in three years – with a bronze medal sandwiched in between – emotions ran high across the entire team.

In the case of guard Grace Bradshaw, the win meant more than just a provincial title, as Bradshaw had suffered an ACL tear in the team’s semi-final defeat a season ago.

“Grace went down with her ACL in the last few seconds of the semi-final last year, and then this year, her leading us … she’s a huge reason we won tonight,” said Gardner. “It was hard to lose (last year), but harder to lose her.”

“My team has really rallied around me through my ups and downs. I’m coming back from a second ACL tear,” said Bradshaw, “It’s been an emotional roller coaster, but they’ve rallied around me, and we put a lot of work in together.”

Langley’s Christian’s Colette Van den Hoven won the Most Valuable Player award while Ruse was selected as the Most Outstanding Defensive Player.

The First Team All-Stars were Demicah Arnalado (St. Thomas More Collegiate), Isla Iannuzzi (Holy Cross), Jenna Talib (Mulgrave), Grace Bradshaw (Langley Christian) and Lucy Xu (Mulgrave).

Earning Second Team All-Star selections were Camryn Vos (Pacific Academy), Mia Beliveau (St. Thomas More Collegiate), Solene Jackson (Holy Cross), Gabrielle Vis (Langley Christian) and Alyssia Palma (Holy Cross).

Abbotsford Christian’s Lauren Van Dyk won the Surjeet Kaur Braich Memorial Scholarship and the Nechako Valley Viqueens were selected the Most Sportsmanlike Team.

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