Playing some tough games last weekend came at a good time for the Belmont Bulldogs senior girls basketball team.
The Bulldogs, who host Stelly's today (5:45 p.m.) in their final AAA city league game of the season, are coming off a 1-2 finish hosting the annual Bill Spotswood Memorial tournament last weekend.
After beating Gulf Islands to open the event, they lost big to Coquitlam's Terry Fox Ravens then dropped a 10-point decision to Killarney from Vancouver in a tight game.
"At the beginning of the year we said we wanted to be playing our best basketball of the season in late January and early February," said coach Brad Lidstone.
"I think with the results we showed at this tournament and the progress that we've made, we are playing the best basketball of the season, coming into this last league game and coming into city playoffs and Island championships as well."
With the schedule abbreviated due to the withdrawal of Mount Doug, Belmont's league play consists of just four games outside of tournament play. They were still looking for their first win heading into Tuesday's game against Stelly's (1-2). The Stingers beat Spectrum 46-38 for fourth place at the Spotswood tournament.
A win over Stelly's today would give the Bulldogs fourth place and guarantee them a berth in the Island tournament. A showdown against Spectrum in the city playoffs Feb. 10 at Claremont would determine seeding for the Islands, happening Feb. 16-18 at Dover Bay in Nanaimo.
If Stelly's wins today, Belmont would have to play the No. 4 North Island seed on Feb. 14 for a berth in the Islands.
Last weekend the Bulldogs opened with a 47-17 win over the Gulf Islands Scorpions. Daryana Mielecka led Belmont with 13 points, with Savannah Purdy adding nine and Ashanti Whyte eight. The hosts ran into a powerful Terry Fox Ravens team from Coquitlam in the Friday night semifinal and lost 92-45. Purdy had 14 points and Drew Rush 10 in a losing cause.
A 47-37 loss to Vancouver's Killarney in the third-place game Saturday left the locals in fifth spot. The Bulldogs led 25-24 late in the first half, but absorbed a 10-2 Killarney run to start the third quarter and could come no closer than six points until the final buzzer.
Carson Graham beat Terry Fox 95-51 in the final.
editor@goldstreamgazette.com