Sports Section Editor: Jordan Cripps Mach 5, 2003 Jordan Cripps Sports Editors This weekend, Douglas College will be hosting the BCCAA Basketball Provincial Championships in New Westminster. With any luck during the final weekend of the regular season, Douglas College will be represented by the Men’s Basketball team who held down the sixth and final playoff spot going into action on Friday. One thing that favoured the Royals dur- ing the final weekend of the regular season is that they had a game in hand to sev- enth-place Langara and _ fifth-place Capilano, so they can control their own fate. Only four points separate first from sixth place on the Men's side. Once the actual tournament begins, it will be any- one’s tournament to win and, unlike some years, there is no clear-cut favourite to advance to the CCAA Championships. The race in the women’s draw is almost as close, excluding UCFV, who has yet to lose a game all season as a result of scoring 400 more points than their opponents. Unfortunately, the Douglas College Women’s basketball program is in a rebuilding phase, and won't be taking part in these championships. UCFV certainly has to be considered the favourite going into the tournament, but Capilano, Royals Fall to Lakers Jordan Cripps Sports Editor dcsportseditor@yahoo.ca Douglas College Prepares for Provincial Championships UNBC, and Langara, the second through fourth place teams, are very competitive and will challenge each other for a posi- tion in the Gold Medal game. This will be the first Provincial Basketball Championship hosted by Douglas College, although volleyball and badminton are more regular occurrences. Tournament locations are determined using a regional grid that determines which region of the province will host the tournament. This year the tournament was slated for the Lower Mainland, so it was decided that because Douglas is a “facility-rich” college, the tournament would be held here. The efforts that go into hosting an event like this are much more complicat- ed than simply telling the teams to show up and play. Planning for this tournament actually began last summer with the devel- opment of a website. The planning con- tinued over the Christmas holidays and into January when tasks were delegated. Looking at the list of tasks involved, it could easily become a logistical nightmare but thanks to the support of the many volunteers, and the help of UCFV and Kwantlen, Lou Rene Legge is “hoping everyone's happy with the championship.” There are more aspects to the tourna- than the games Certainly, everyone is concerned that the games are exciting and well played but outside of the games, there has been extensive work done to ensure that the games will be a success. From the initial phase of developing a website, many dif- ferent issues have been considered by the volunteer staff. For example, the host team is responsible for negotiating a hotel rate for the institutions that are coming from outside the Lower Mainland and will require accommodations. Every game is videotaped and arrangements need to be made for this. Event staff need to be found. Even seemingly unimportant issues, like towel rentals, are considered in planning the tournament. Because it is a sporting event and injuries are possible, the college is responsible for arranging medical services. ment themselves. This tournament promises to be the first installment of a busy year for Lou Rene Legge and the rest of the athletic department who will, as a result of the success of the Men’s Soccer team, be host- ing the CCAA National Soccer the other press Championships this fall in Coquitlam. One aspect that Legge would like to see improved is the media coverage that events such as these receive. It’s an area where “we need to pick up our socks,” she says, recognizing that it is difficult to get any media interest because of the small local interest that college sports seem to have. To build up some momentum for the tournament, the CSRW (Centre for Sports, Recreation and Wellness) has introduced some innovative new concepts for the tournament. The Gold Medal games will be video-cast over the Internet and there will also be live stats, so that it is quick and easy to find out just how a team is currently doing, rather than waiting until after the game to find out. Certainly, it would be exciting for Douglas College to be represented in the tournament and even more exciting for Douglas to be in the Gold Medal game, but there are a number of talented players and skilled teams in the tournament which should make this Championship memorable regardless of! which teams are involved. Provincial On Friday, to begin the last weekend of the BCCAA reg- ular season, the last-place Douglas College Royals wel- comed the fifth-ranked OUC Lakers Westminster, hoping to snap their 16-game losing streak and end the season on a positive note. For much of the first half, it looked like they might be able to do just that. The first three minutes of the game belonged to the Lakers, who scored the first six points of the game and only allowed the Royals 12 points in the first ten min- utes. Thanks to some strong offensive play and a number of visits to the charity stripe, the Royals were able to claw their way out of a 30-15 deficit, scoring 11 of the last 16 points in the first half. The Royals, by aggressively driving to the basket, were able to draw a number of fouls against the Lakers and were able to reduce the effectiveness of the Okanagan defense as they tried to keep out of foul trouble. With the clock stopped, the Royals were able to cut into the lead and, at times, gave indications that they might be able to go on an extended run. Unfortunately for the Royals, though, whenever this happened, the © page 24 to New Lakers responded with a basket or two of their own to protect the lead. Offensively, the Royals were led by Megan Hall and Jennifer Dalrymple, who benefited from numerous trips to the foul-line. The OUC coach, Heather Semeniuk, felt that a number of these calls werent deserved, and engaged in a long and animated discussion with the officials following the end of the first half. Because of the consistent fouls, there was very little flow or excitement to the first half even though it was possibly the Royal’s best home performance of the entire season. Heading to the dressing room, the Royals trailed 36-29 and it looked like they might be able to hang around and pose a threat to the Lakers during the second half. As the second half began, though, the Lakers made it quite apparent that they weren't happy with their per- formance during the first half, and they picked up their play considerably. The Royals got off to a slow start to begin the second half, watching the lead climb to 12, 41- 29 in the early going. As has happened in a number of games for the team this season, it felt like the Lakers might run away with the game. This is almost what hap- pened, although the Royals were able to mount a bit of a comeback to end the game down by 13 points, 79-66. From where they were early in the season, though, the Royals showed some significant improvement in a num- ber of areas. They were able to score a number of points off of layups and demonstrate a pretty strong inside game. They were also aggressive on the offensive glass, especially Megan Hall, who was able to create a few sec- ond chance opportunities for herself and others, Defensively, they were able to hold a pretty big and strong team to under 80 points and, through their own aggressiveness, were able to get a few of the Lakers into foul trouble, even getting one of the players to foul out early in the second half. The real offensive catalyst of the game was Megan Hall, who demonstrated a willingness to battle for rebounds and a strong inside game, making a number of layups and short jump shots. For her efforts she was named the Douglas College Player of the Game.