Dreams of a three-peat are still alive, but the Syilx (Okanagan Nation) girls' squad will need plenty of new faces to step up if it wants to win a third consecutive British Columbia Junior All-Native Basketball Tournament.
This year's provincial tournament will be staged March 18 to 23 in Port Alberni.
The event is being organized by the Hesquiaht First Nation and the Homiss Wolves, who captured the boys' championship at last year's provincial tourney.
This year's Syilx squad will have to try and defend its title without two of its key players—point guard Ashley McGinnis and shooting guard Nicola Terbasket.
Both girls are still eligible to play for the club, but they will miss the provincial tournament to spend their March Break in Europe on a school exchange.
"It will be a tougher road without them," said Syilx coach Amanda Montgomery. "It will especially hurt not having Ashley."
McGinnis had been selected as the most valuable player at the 2011 provincials, which was staged in Penticton and hosted by the Syilx organization.
Another key member from last year's championship squad, Jade Montgomery-Waardenburg, also a guard, is not eligible to play in the tournament. She's now a member of the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack in Kamloops.
As a result, the Syilx roster for the 2012 provincials will only feature three players from last year's championship squad. They are forwards Elle-Leigh Snow, Soffia Funmaker and Jasmine Montgomery-Reid, the coach's niece.
Montgomery-Reid and Montgomery-Waardenburg are cousins.
Coach Montgomery has another relative on the team. Her assistant coach is her brother-in-law, Peter Waardenburg.
Though Syilx will be without some key members from last year's championship squad, Montgomery said she still has high hopes for her current club.
"I'm hoping for another win," but it is difficult to speculate on the team's chances of garnering another crown, she said.
"You never know what's coming from the other communities."
Besides the three returnees, the Syilx squad will also include five other players who participated at last year's provincials. That's because the Okanagan Nation entered two teams at the 2011 tournament.
The second entry was a last-minute addition and featured players all younger than those on the winning Syilx side.
"We have a handful of guards (that came up from that team)," said Montgomery.
This grouping includes point guard Erin Gabriel, who is expected to receive her share of court time at the provincials.
Since there are no other teams from its area that will participate at the provincials, the Syilx team does not have to compete in any zone playoffs prior to the B.C. championships.
And it is not planning to enter any tournaments beforehand.
"We're going to try and get a couple of exhibition games in if we can get some of the high schools to play us," Montgomery said.
All 10 members of the Syilx club play at the high school level, and they have been staging weekly practices on Sundays since October.
"Right now we're encouraging the girls to do a lot of conditioning," she said. "It's not a high school tournament where you're going for a day and a half. This is a week-long tournament."
Organizers are hoping this year's event will attract 50 teams, split evenly between the girls' and boys' divisions.
Games will be staged at three facilities, Alberni District Secondary School, Alberni Athletic Hall and Maht Mahs Gym.
Ha-Shilth-Sa will be webcasting the games staged at the Athletic Hall at www.hashilthsa.comand a test of our webcast production team will be conducted at the tournament organized by Francis Frank on the Feb. 17 weekend, so tune in to watch that action.
The Junior All Native Basketball Championship Committee is actively seeking volunteers for the March 18 to March 23 tourney. The volunteer registration form can be found at http://www.hashilthsa.com/news/2012-01-09/junior-all-native-basketball-volunteers-needed
About 1,500 people will participate in the tourney and the committee is seeking support from the many businesses in Port Alberni that will benefit from this influx of visitors. Many businesses greatly appreciated the many dollars that were spent in Port Alberni when the Junior All Natives were staged here in 2009.
