West Coast athleticism will be shooting in spades this weekend as Ucluelet Secondary School’s senior girls basketball team hosts its first home tournament in recent memory.
“It’s a first for most people at the school,” said the team’s manager Ornella Cirella, who also coaches alongside Emily Collins and Katie Burden. “Schools generally don’t come out here. We always have to travel for all of our games, so this is really exciting for our girls and their parents because finally we have a home game and we don’t have to travel for it.”
The tournament will play out at USS’ gym on Friday, Dec. 13, with an 11:30 a.m. tip-off starting the action.
Teams from Qualicum, Comox and Port Alberni are travelling to the Coast to compete alongside USS and Collins said the local girls are stoked to put their skills on display in front of their home communities.
“It’s so exciting for the girls,” she said. “We haven’t had the opportunity to play in front of a home crowd and it will be so much fun because people will finally be cheering for us rather than the other team. It will be really exciting.”
She added that USS has “a great team” this season buoyed by four solid seniors who have been training hard all offseason to prepare for the court.
“We have some very skilled, athletic girls, so we have high hopes for our team this year,” she said. “I feel like we’re going to do well this season.”
