South Delta Sun Devils girls basketball teams have earned berths to the upcoming provincial invitational Grade 8 and 9 championships.
The Devils secured their spot at Port Moody’s Heritage Woods Secondary next week by capturing the inaugural South Fraser Grade 9 Championships on their home court.
Ron Arnold’s squad opened with a 57-29 victory over the Burnett Breakers then made it two straight against Richmond opponents with a 64-35 triumph over the MacNeill Ravens in Thursday’s championship game.
It was a homecoming for Ravens’ teacher/coach Kira Carre.
The SDSS grad was a starting guard on a Sun Devils’ team that finished third at the 2004 AAA provincials — the last time a South Delta senior girls team advanced to the senior showcase tourney.
The Grade 9 provincials tip-off on Thursday.
Meanwhile, South Delta is seeded 12th for the Grade 8 provincials at MEI Secondary in Abbotsford that also tips-off later next week.
The Sun Devils are coming off a third place finish at the highly-competitive South Fraser Championships in Richmond.
South Delta opened the 12-team tournament with a 52-48 win over Holy Cross from Surrey then dropped a 37-35 heartbreaker to Elgin Park in the semi-finals. The girls rebounded with a dominating 64-37 triumph against Richmond champion McMath.
Delta champions Burnsview won the zone title with a 28-24 win over Elgin Park and is also headed to MEI.
The Grade 8 tourney is nothing new to Sun Devils coach Sharon Butler. Two years ago she guided SDSS to a fourth place finish.
