SURREY — It’s tournament time again for Surrey’s senior girls basketball teams, and Nancy Innes is fired up about it.
Innes is a longtime chief planner of the Goodwill Senior Girls Basketball Classic, hosted by Surrey Firefighters Association and played at Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary this week.
Not only does the annual tourney bring together Surrey teams for some exciting on-court action, the event can spark a career choice for the girls involved.
“It’s nice for the girls to see there are job opportunities for women with the fire department, to give them an idea about that,” said Innes, a fire captain at Hall 2 in Whalley.
“Girls who are into team sports tend to be a good fit for the fire department, because it’s an extension of that team environment, working to get a job done, and it’s a good physical, exciting job.”
At last year’s Classic, the 15th annual, the host Panthers got the job done as champs of the top Axe bracket in a 83-73 win over rival Panorama Ridge Thunder. CLICK HERE to read the post-tourney story.
The latest Triple-A girls provincial rankings have Tweedsmuir in fourth, a notch ahead of the fifth-spot Thunder. CLICK HERE to see all the rankings, for girls and boys.
“They’re probably our biggest rival,” said Tweedy head coach Curtis McRae. “They beat us in the provincial finals two years ago, in juniors, so we’ve got a pretty solid dislike for each other on the court. Since that game, they haven’t beat us, in the eight or nine games we’ve played them.”
This year’s Panthers are powered by Maryn Budiman, who McRae describes as a “phenomenal player” – probably B.C.’s best point guard. The team’s starting five also includes fellow Grade 12-ers Brianne Boufford, Jessica Vidovic and Shania Mander, and Shelvin Grewal, a standout guard currently in Grade 11.
“We play a real run-and-gun, fast-pace (game), and Maryn is the engine that drives that,” noted McRae, who has coached this year’s graduating girls since their Grade 8 season.
Twenty teams from across Surrey will participate in the five-day tourney, which began Tuesday (Jan. 3) and concludes Saturday (Jan. 7) with a post-finals awards ceremony at 6 p.m.
“It’s fun because it’s all Surrey teams in the tournament, every school is invited to play and most of them are in,” said Innes. “The winning team can say they’re the best in Surrey. The final game over the past couple years has been very exciting, close games and really fun to watch. It’s a pretty busy week with everyone coming back to school (after the Christmas break), but I always really enjoy it, watching it. And even the teams that aren’t as strong, they have a chance to win a trophy in the second draw, the Ladder side.”
In promoting goodwill among girls, the Surrey Fire Fighters’ Charitable Society will again offer several $750 bursaries to players who lead on the court and also volunteer their time in the community.
Innes will retire from the fire department in a couple of years, so plans are to have this year’s tournament co-chair, Adam MacEwan, be the event boss moving forward.
“I played a lot of basketball and coached over the years, and this is something to give back to the community,” Innes said. “I’ll still be helping somehow.”
Tourney info, including a schedule, can be found online at Surreyfirefighters.com/basketball. For those wanting to catch the action live, Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary is located at 6151 180th St., Surrey.
tom.zillich@thenownewspaper.com