SMUS basketball programs headed into the break on a high note, highlighted by the Junior Girls’ tournament championship, key victories for the Senior Girls against top-ranked provincial opponents, and continued league success for the Senior Boys and Grade 9 squads. While the Junior Boys faced a tough setback, all teams gained valuable experience as they wrapped up their final games of 2025.
Junior Girls Basketball
It was an excellent week for the SMUS Junior Girls Basketball team, which won all four games it played, including three consecutive victories to take the championship in the Best Buckets Tournament played over the weekend at Charles Best Secondary in Coquitlam.
The Junior Blue Jags beat Lord Tweedsmuir of Surrey 43-31 in Saturday evening’s tournament final. Grade 9 guard Piper Geddes scored 14 points and was named player of the game in the championship contest, while teammate Ella Buckley added 12.
Earlier on Saturday, the Junior Girls defeated host Charles Best 48-35 in a semifinal. Ali Brooks scored 11 points to lead SMUS in that game while Geddes contributed 10.
In its first game of the tournament, SMUS downed Port Moody 76-2. Buckley had 16 points in the victory, while Brooks contributed 14 points and five steals, and Natalie DiFelice-Oinonen added 12 points and four steals.
The Junior Jags opened their busy week with a 61-17 win at Lambrick Park on Tuesday in a Lower Island Division 1 league game. Brooks led SMUS with 19 points while DiFelice-Oinonen and Buckley added 10 apiece. SMUS is now 2-0 in league play.
Meanwhile, last Monday, the SMUS Junior ‘B’ Girls ran their Lower Island Division 2 league record to 3-0 with a 62-6 win at Edward Milne.
Senior Girls Basketball
The SMUS Senior Girls went 2-2 in the prestigious Tsumura Basketball Invitational tournament this past week at the Langley Events Centre, including two key victories over opponents currently ranked ahead of them in the BC AAA Top 10.
The Blue Jags, ranked sixth in the province, defeated AAA No. 1 Sa-Hali of Kamloops 48-46 in an exciting consolation-side game on Saturday. Grade 11 forward Mikaela Dubé led the way for SMUS with yet another double-double – this time 20 points and 13 rebounds – while guards Mya Beare and Elspeth Rodger contributed 11 and 10 points, respectively.
After starting the tournament on a shaky note with consecutive losses to larger AAAA schools, the Blue Jags bounced back strongly to beat the fourth-ranked Duchess Park Condors of Prince George 47-39 on Friday. Dubé led the Blue Jags with 15 points and 15 rebounds while Junior call-ups Piper Geddes and Natalie DiFelice-Oinonen added eight points apiece.
SMUS dropped a 55-41 decision to AAAA No. 7 Charles Best of Coquitlam on Wednesday night to open the TBI. Dubé led the Blue Jags with 23 points in the loss. Charles Best dominated the boards and helped cause 28 SMUS turnovers.
The Blue Jags fell 62-54 to AAAA No. 6 Johnston Heights of Surrey in their second game of the tournament on Thursday. Dubé scored 21 points and added 16 rebounds in that one while Beare notched 11 points for the Jags and Geddes contributed seven points and five rebounds.
Last Tuesday, the Senior Girls evened their record in Lower Island Division 1 league play at 1-1 with a 66-35 win over visiting Belmont. Rodger led the way with 16 points for the Blue Jags while Beare had 12 and Dubé 10.
The SMUS Senior Girls will travel to Pacific Christian for another league game this Tuesday at 5:45 pm. This coming weekend, they are off to Coquitlam for the Riverside Rapids tournament, their final competition before January. The Riverside Tournament is a set draw that has the Blue Jags open play against AAAA 10th-ranked Okanagan Mission on Wednesday night. Thursday’s opponent is the current AAA third-ranked Langley Christian Lightning and Friday’s game will be a matchup against AAAA powerhouse and current BC No. 8 Semiahmoo.
Senior Boys Basketball
The SMUS Senior Boys Basketball team won its third straight Lower Island AA league game of the season last Tuesday, beating visiting Pacific Christian 91-86.
Senior guard Dani Pelyhe led the Blue Jags with 37 points in the victory while backcourt mate Will Bateson had 21. Grade 11 forward Henry Lake added 12 points and Junior call-up Alex MacKay contributed 11.
The Senior Boys struggled in the No Regrets Tournament over the weekend in North Vancouver, however, losing all three of their games. SMUS opened the event with a 92-42 loss to a towering Argyle team on Thursday. Bateson had 30 points, including eight three-pointers, to lead the Blue Jags in that one.
Pelyhe scored 16 points, Bateson 14, and MacKay 10 in the Blue Jags’ second-game 60-48 loss to host Carson Graham on Friday afternoon.
SMUS finished the tournament with a close 80-78 loss to Sutherland on Saturday morning. Pelyhe led the way with 31 points while Bateson added 17 and MacKay 14.
The tournament marked the final competition for the Senior Blue Jags before the holiday break.
Junior Boys Basketball
The SMUS Junior Boys Basketball team will hope to learn from a second-half collapse that led to a 62-53 loss to host Belmont in Lower Island Division 1 play last Thursday.
It was the only game of the week for the Junior Jags and things were looking good as they took a 15-point lead into the halftime intermission. However, Belmont’s 1-2-2 fullcourt press got the best of the Jags in the second half, forcing turnovers and hurried shots, enabling the Bulldogs to roar back for the well-deserved win.
Belmont moved to 4-0 and now sits atop the Lower Island Junior Division 1 standings while the Junior Jags fell to 2-1 in league play and 6-3 overall.
The SMUS Juniors will complete the pre-holiday portion of their schedule by playing in the annual Gary Taylor Classic this week at Oak Bay. The Jags open with a 2:15 pm matchup against St. Thomas More Collegiate of Burnaby on Thursday. Other teams in the Junior draw include provincially No. 1-ranked Vancouver College, host Oak Bay, Lambrick Park, Pacific Academy, Belmont, and Pitt Meadows.
Grade 9 Boys Basketball
The SMUS Grade 9 Boys rolled to two more Lower Island Junior Division 2 league wins last week, bumping their first-place record to 3-0.
The Grade 9 Jags defeated the Mount Douglas Juniors 76-44 on Monday at Mount Doug. Adrian Villen Diez led the Blue Jags with 29 points while Seb Divoky added 10.
The Grade 9s capped off the week with a 70-45 victory over the Spartans’ Junior ‘B’ squad on Thursday at Claremont in their final action before the holiday break. Oscar Pressello scored 19 points to pace SMUS while Jerome Chan added 13. Declan Ross also delivered a solid game for the Jags, rebounding and hustling well in the win.
