SEAQUAM TAKES JUNIOR GIRLS CROWN

It was a good day to be a member of the Toor family on Saturday.

With dad Lucky Toor on the bench, daughters Syra and Priya Toor played prominent roles, winning Most Valuable Player and Most Outstanding Defensive Player, respectively. And most importantly, the Seaquam Seahawks won the biggest prize of all: the Junior Girls Basketball Provincial Invitational Tournament title on Saturday afternoon at Langley Events Centre.

The Seahawks – who were the second seed in the 24-team tournament – used an outstanding defensive effort, holding the No. 4 seed South Kamloops Titans to well below their season average in a 50-20 victory. The championship was the first in any sport for the Delta school.

“We had this vision, but you don’t know what’s out there and where you stand. I knew we had a hard working bunch and a very strong team, but we did have this vision from day one and for them to realize it is pretty special,” Lucky Toor said as he watched his young team take turns snipping down the netting.

The game began with both teams struggling to score in the first quarter as the Seahawks led 11-4 as the Titans were able to just hit one field goal on 12 attempts. It remained low scoring in the second with Seaquam taking a 21-10 to the locker room before their offence awoke in the third period, scoring 22 points to increase their lead to 43-17 with a period to play.

The Seahawks defensive strategy was to take away the Titans’ Lucy Marchese and point guard Kiana Kaczur.

“I believe (Lucy) had six or seven three’s yesterday. She is one of the best shooters in the whole tournament, so our strategy was to contain her, put our best defensive stopper on their point guard who everything runs through and take our chances with the rest,” the coach said.

“Our whole concentration was on the defensive end because that is the one thing you can control; shots are going to be missed or made, you can control your defensive effort.”

For the game, the Titans shot just 16.3 per cent with Kylee Koppes providing half the offence with 10 points. The Seahawks were led by Syra Toor’s 22 points, half of which came in the third quarter. Sydney Roufosse, who was named the Championship Player of the Game, had five points, but more importantly, controlled the boards with 14 rebounds as Seaquam held a 42-26 edge in the rebounding department, including 20 offensive rebounds.

As for his daughter – who is in just Grade 8 snagging the MVP award, the coach said there were multiple worthy candidates on his team which has three Grade 8s and loses just three players who will rise to the senior ranks next season.

“The way I look at it, we have multiple MVPs on our team and on any given day at any given tournament, it could be any one of them. And she showed up in the biggest moments and that was yesterday and today. Super proud of her as a coach, but obviously – haven’t let it sink in – but super proud of her as a father as well,” he said.