Three nights after securing a spot in this year’s single-A provincial tournament, the Unity Christian Flames senior girl’s basketball team won themselves a Fraser Valley championship.
The fifth-ranked Flames shocked No. 3 Agassiz Christian 75-57 last Thursday to book a trip to provincials, then faced their arch-rivals from Credo Christian in Sunday’s Fraser Valley final.
Two hundred-plus fans packed the gym at Abbotsford Christian to watch Unity take down their No. 2 ranked foes.
Flames Coach Mike Campbell said it was “a sea of orange in the gym.”
Kirsten Kampman had 25 points, and was named the Fraser Valley tournament’s most valuable player.
Grace VanDenBrink added 22 and was named a first team all-star.
“Both girls are in Grade 10 and we also start a Grade 9 (Olivia Lounsbury) who is considered to be one of the top Grade 9 guards in the province,” Campbell noted.
Lounsbury had 22 points in the Credo win.
The coach expects his team will be seeded No. 2 for provincials. Sixteen teams form the field for the year-end tourney running Mar. 7-11 in Duncan.
“In our first game of the year we lost our Grade 12 point guard to an ACL injury and in December we thought this was going to be a rebuilding year,” Campbell mused. “In January we were only 8-6, but since then we’ve won 17 straight and our record is 25-8.”
“The girls have worked hard enough to give themselves a good shot at a medal, and they’ve exceeded our early expectations tenfold.”
Unity Christian last appeared at provincials four years ago and their highest finish was second place in 2009.