It was nearly a clean sweep.
The Burnaby South Rebels basketball program enjoyed the fruits of labour from a large cast of coaches, capturing four of a possible five district playoff titles -- with one more chance to make it a five of six.
The Rebels teams topped the senior girls final (see 'Rebels use last second' story), and will play New Westminster on Monday in the senior boys showdown, 7 p.m. at Burnaby South. The school was also victorious in both junior boys and girls tournaments as well as the Grade 9 boys final. They finished second in the Grade 9 girls final to Burnaby Mountain.
Burnaby South's junior boys squad defeated New West 55-46 for the banner in a game they controlled for most of the night. After three quarters the Rebels were ahead 45-34, with Karan Aujla cashing in 19 points and collected 11 rebounds. New West's Troy Kim scored nine points.
En route, they topped Burnaby Central 60-42 in the semifinal, while New West bested Burnaby Mountain 58-46 to advance to the final.
Earning all-star honours were Burnaby South's Eric Li and Jimmy Zaborniak, New West's Josiah Driedger, Burnaby Central's Kenny Cogoy and Burnaby Mountain's Brian Oyan.
The Rebels captured the junior girls title with a 39-29 triumph over New West, after leading 33-22 after three quarters. Megan Obuyes had eight points and two steals by the three-quarter mark, while the Hyacks' Anja Tjernagel counted nine points and six boards.
New West edged Burnaby Mountain 45-40 in the semifinal, getting 10 points from Grade 9 Ayanna Seymour. Burnaby South trumped Burnaby North 55-18 in their qualifier, with Iza Cabillan and Deya Sehgal both netting 13 points.
Receiving all-star awards were South's Reya Sandhu and Sehgal, New West's Kaya Bruce and Tjernagel, Burnaby Mountain's Sophia Condilenios, and Burnaby North's Maddy Burkett.
In the Grade 9 boys district final, it was a 65-38 decision for the Rebels over Burnaby Central. Burnaby South had advanced by beating New West 56-29 in the semifinal, getting 12 points from Isaiah Prasad. New West's Tyler Duprey-Steinman counted a game-high 14 points and seven rebounds.
Named to the all-star team were South's Timothy Binoya and Zach Chan, Central's Bashar Kadamani and Caleb Stephens, Mountain's Ryan Mali and Colin Spelrem, and New West's Brian Rusi.
The Burnaby Mountain Lions came up with a huge effort in taking the Grade 9 girls banner with a 54-24 triumph over South.
The Lions' Krista Traboulay and Danielle Ha, South's Meravashti Sarmiento and Sophie Quilatan, and Central's Janelle Mascardo and Kaitlyn Heslop were chosen as all-stars.
The Grade 9 score and all-stars were unavailable at press time.
