Archbishop Thomas Murphy girls basketball coach Bill Kelley was pleased with a lot of what he saw at last week’s Can-Am Santa Slam tournament in Victoria, B.C.
The Wildcats won all three of their games and claimed the tournament title for the second time. The competition was stiff in the first two games before Archbishop Murphy steamrolled Belmont (B.C.) 65-39 to claim the championship in a Dec. 18 matchup.
Junior center Lisa Coate scored 18 points and sophomore guard Krista Eknes added 17 points to lead the Wildcats, who outscored Belmont 28-3 in the first quarter.
“It certainly was our best outing,” Kelley said. “Our press was extremely effective and we shot extremely well.”
The round-robin format of the tournament meant that the third game against Belmont technically wasn’t a championship game but by virtue of its two prior wins Archbishop Murphy captured the tournament crown.
“We saw real solid ballclubs, who I think would be very competitive in our league,” Kelley said. “We were actually barely ahead in the first game and behind by seven in the second game. We came back and won both of those.”
A balanced scoring attack, which Kelley wants to see more of, enabled the Wildcats to defeat Spectrum 70-57 in a first-round game.
Eknes and junior center Ashley Reinig each scored 17 points. Sophomore Alex Zitnik contributed 15 points and Coate added 10.
“We’ve been looking for offensive help,” Kelley said. “We have a lot of good defenders and a lot of good passers. We’re looking for more scoring. Ashley Reinig really came through for us with 17 points and 12 boards in the first game.”
Unfortunately, Reinig sprained her ankle during the Spectrum game and wasn’t able to play in the second game and was at less than 100 percent in the finale.
“When she was healthy, she really started to show potential,” Kelley said.
Archbishop Murphy outscored Oak Bay 24-11 in the fourth quarter to claim the second-round contest 68-57.
Coate scored 21 points and Eknes added 19. Junior guard Lauren Lasswell had 12 points.
Kelly came into the season expecting Coate and Eknes to be scoring threats and the two have not disappointed.
The duo is averaging 40 points per game.
“They have a long 3-point line and Krista still made 11 3-points for the tournament, including five in our second game, which tied a school record,” Kelley said.
Lasswell finished with 11 field goals in the last two games.
“Many of them were jump shots,” Kelley said. “We’re really happy to see that. We starting to see contributions from more kids.”
The three Can-Am victory boosted Archbishop Murphy’s record to 8-0. Three of the Wildcats’ other victories were against tough Northern competition — Mount Baker, Nooksack Valley and Meridian.
“They’re really tough teams, so we’re really happy with that,” Kelley said. “We know we’ve got to get a lot better. King’s is looking unbeatable … hopefully we can play with them.”
Archbishop Murphy and King’s square off to start the New Year with a 7 p.m. game Jan. 4.
The Wildcats turned the ball over more than Kelley would have liked in the Can-Am tournament and he wants to continue to see the development of other players to help ease some of the scoring burden off of Coate and Eknes.
“We’re starting to do that — be less predictable about who we’re going to,” Kelley said. “They’re starting to respond.”
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