Victoria And Royals Claim 2012 BC Championship Titles
Teams from across BC and our friends from Tacoma, came together for the 2012 BC-CWBL Finals at the David Lam Campus of Douglas College in Coquitlam, BC the March 2-4 weekend. With a combination of tough competition between all D2 teams in their games and the intense battle of Douglas College’s D1 Lions and Royals, the tournament was a great success. All teams showed great heart and determination throughout the competition.
Once the Saturday round-robin was complete, two teams stood a head of the pack in Division 2. The reigning champs of the finals, Victoria and their American counterparts, the Tacoma Titans. The game had a classic match-up of size versus speed. Victoria had two of the tallest athletes in the tournament, Jon Vligenhart and Tony Golston. Tacoma had two of the fastest athletes there in Danny Maravilla and Jose Adriano.
Blow after Blow, the teams battled through the championship game. Trading baskets and continuing to create a crowd-pleasing final. But contributions from Roberto Molina and Shira Standfield helped push Victoria over the edge and gave Victoria their 3rd championship in a row.
Division 1 played 10 games throughout the season and the winner had not been decided until the very last game. The Royals, who won their last four games including two from the championship weekend, claimed the provincial championship and has won the privilege to compete in the 2012 CWBL Open Finals (Club Team Nationals) in PEI on April 8-10.
We want to thank all of the athletes that participated in this event as well as Officials, Staff and Volunteers for their continued effort to keep the CWBL finals running as smoothly as ever.
Big thanks go to our partner and sponsors for their generous support:
Douglas College, Hosting BC, the Province of British Columbia, the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel, Wheelchair Basketball Canada, Advanced Mobility Products, Panago Pizza, and Tim Hortons.
For more information including scores and pictures, please see below.
<Game Results>
Fri, March 2:
DC Lions vs. DC Royals (D1) 51-67
Sat, March 3:
Gold Rush vs. Cable Cars F-W
Breakers vs. Okanagan 31-55
Kamloops vs. Okanagan 44-52
Breakers vs. Victoria 28-45
Gold Rush vs. Tacoma 32-66
DC Royals vs. DC Lions (D1) 74-45
Tacoma vs. Cable Cars 62-59
Kamloops vs. Victoria 32-44
Sun, March 4:
Breakers vs. Kamloops 43-53
Okanagan vs. Victoria 38-55
Tacoma vs. Okanagan (Semi-Final D2) 69-45
Victoria vs Cable Cars (Semi-Final D2) 50-31
Gold Rush vs. Kamloops (Consolation D2) 46-58
Okanagan vs. Cable Cars (D2 3rd Place) 48-41
Tacoma vs. Victoria (D2 Championship) 40-52
<All Stars/MVP/League Awards>
Division 1 All Stars
Jaimie Borisoff (Royals), Matt Gee (Royals), Bo Hedges (Lions), Anthony Purcell (Royals), Ross MacDonald (Lions)
Division 1 MVP
Erik Hagreen (Royals)
Division 1 League Awards
Most Improved Player: Erik Vliegenthart (Royals)
True Sports Award: Adam Gongos (Lions)
Best Teammate Award: Shira Standfield (Lions)
Division 2 All Stars
Robarto Moina (Victoria), Danny Maravilla (Tacoma), Jose Adriano (Tacoma), Wendy Jansen (Okanagan), Erik Vliegenthart (Kamloops)
Division 2 MVP
Jon Vliegenthart (Victoria)
Division 2 League Awards
Most Improved Player: Amanda Yan (Breakers)
True Sports Award: Jack Kosterman (Kamloops)
Rookie of the Year: Justin Johnson (Gold Rush)
For more photos, please visit our photographer Gerry Kripps' gallary.
More photos to come so make sure to come back to the gallary later as well! (Photo download is free.)