Brookswood bench comes through

Brookswood’s Dani Potesta tries to lead the fast break, but faces some tough pressure from the Riverside Rapids. The Bobcats defeated Riverside 68-60 to win the Fraser Valley junior girls’ basketball championship.

John Gordon/Langley Times

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Some early foul trouble could have spelled doom for the Brookswood Bobcats.
A pair of quick fouls against two of the team’s top three players quickly sent them to the bench. But the team weathered the storm and once they had their full complement of players available, they slowed the Riverside Rapids 68-60 to win the junior girls’ Fraser Valley championship basketball banner.
The teams came into the tournament, played at Brookswood Secondary, as the top two seeds.
But it was the second-seed ’Cats who came out on top in the fourth meeting between the two teams.They have both won twice now.
“We came out ready to play and we hit some shots down the stretch,” said Brookswood coach Chris Veale.
“And the excitement of being in our own gym helped, I think.”
The Rapids also dealt with foul trouble of their own and in the end, Brookswood just had a little bit more than their opponent.
The Bobcats used a balanced scoring attack to overwhelm the Rapids.
Riverside led by one after the first quarter, but Brookswood led by eight at the half.
“We didn’t play perfect, but good enough to win,” Veale said. “It was a hard-fought battle.”
Veale was especially impressed by his team’s bench, which came up big in the first half, while two of the team’s big three were stapled to the bench by their foul troubles.
“It says a lot for the bench kids to be able to step up,” Veale said, singling out point guard Dani Potesta, as well as Grade 9 players Marissa Van Noort and Suzette Pelletier.
Potesta ran the offence, while Van Noort and Pelletier provided stellar defence.
Lindsay Wand, Sydney Williams and Jessie Brown all earned all-star awards for their play.
Elleni Asimakis picked up most valuable player honours.
Veale called Asimakis ‘Mrs. Consistency’ for her solid play all week long.
“She was clutch for us,” he said. “She has always been in the background of the big three, but this week she stepped up and was great.”
The ’Cats should enter the provincial championships as the top seed.
The tournament runs March 10-12 at the University of the Fraser Valley.