The SMUS Blue Jags boast five returning seniors from the team that captured last season’s BC Senior Girls AA championship – the first provincial crown for a girls’ basketball team in school history.
But it’s not exactly the “same-old, same-old” for the Jags who, for one thing, have moved back up to the AAA level this season and, for another, no longer have star guards Avery Geddes and Charlie Anderson to lean upon.
“Those two are difficult to replace for sure, but we’ve got a core of Grade 12s back who have been playing together for four years now,” said Head Coach Lindsay Brooke. “Our returnees are solid and we’ve added a couple of very good players.”
Indeed, the Blue Jags are still one of the top teams at any level in BC and will again battle the province’s finest with a tournament schedule that is extremely tough. But it’s not like they are just running it back from last year.
“That’s not the way I think of it at all,” Brooke said. “Every season is different. Last year was last year. And AAA means a whole different bunch of schools to compete with.”
The Blue Jags, who open their season this Tuesday with a Lower Island league game at Oak Bay beginning at 5:45 pm, were moved up to the AAA level due to the “sustained excellence adjustment” formula employed by BC School Sports. SMUS is ranked No. 3 provincially in the first AAA Top 10 poll of the season. At No. 1 is Sa-Hali of Kamloops, with Vernon second, and Langley Christian fourth.
Based on the number of girls enrolled in Grades 11 and 12, SMUS is actually a AA-sized school but a third-place BC finish in 2022, followed by back-to-back provincial second-place finishes in 2023 and 2024, and then a BC AA-title season in 2025, means the Jags are moving up.
“Honestly, it’s not a lot different for us,” said Brooke of the calibre of teams at AAA. “Langley Christian has also moved up from AA and locally we are playing pretty much the same schedule as we usually do.”
SMUS plays in Lower Island Division 1, along with the top local teams at all levels. The Blue Jags’ only league game of any real consequence will be a Jan. 27 contest against Mount Douglas, the only other AAA team in Division 1. The winner of that game will be the top seed for the Island AAA tournament, which will be hosted Feb. 12-14 by Vic High. Vic High, Reynolds, Esquimalt and Stelly’s are also AAA-level teams but play their regular season in Division 2.
As usual, the Blue Jags will get most of their competition via a rigorous tournament schedule, which includes the highly competitive Victoria Christmas Tournament this coming weekend at Pacific Christian. SMUS opens with a Friday game against BC No. 6 Mark Isfeld of Courtenay – expected to be the Blue Jags’ main AAA rival on the Island this season – at 1:45 pm at PCS. The winner of that game will take on perennial power Port Coquitlam Riverside, currently ranked No. 4 among BC AAAA teams, at 5:15 pm Friday, also at PCS.
The Victoria tournament features several other top BC AAAA teams including No. 1 North Vancouver Argyle, No. 2 Seaquam of Delta, No. 8 Charles Best of Coquitlam and No. 9 Oak Bay, as well as Calgary’s Bishop Carroll High School.
The Blue Jags’ pre-Christmas schedule also includes the Howard Tsumura Invitational, Dec. 10-13 at the Langley Events Centre and the Riverside tournament Dec. 17-19. Post holidays, SMUS will attend the Top 10 tournament at GW Graham in Chilliwack Jan. 8-10, host the Victoria City Police Tournament Jan. 15-17, and then play in both the EmPowHer tournament Jan. 22-24 at Oak Bay and the Tessa Tournament Jan. 29-31 on the Lower Mainland.
“Our schedule is excellent,” Brooke said.
Helping to carry SMUS through that challenging schedule will be seven Grade 12s – guards Mya Beare, Indigo Edgington, Crystal Cai, and Leila Mostachfi and forwards Caitlyn Chen, Ellie Lobb and Anika Keirn. The first five listed are returnees from last year’s BC championship team.
Adding to that strong group of returnees are the full-time additions of Mikaela Dubé, a 6-foot-three post, and Elspeth Rodger, a 5-11 guard, who both split time between Junior and Senior ranks last year. Each played a key role against a big Holy Cross team in last year’s BC Senior AA championship game.
Dubé, in particular, gives the Blue Jags a significant inside threat after spending the last few years honing her skills in the BC provincial team program and also playing high-level club basketball.
“Mikaela is a big inside presence and Elspeth is a gritty competitor who impacts both ends of the court,” Brooke said. “We have good size as a team and they have all played a ton together, so I’m optimistic about the season.”
