News Panorama Ridge, Semiahmoo win Surrey Fire Fighters and RCMP basketball tournaments

 

​The action was unpredictable and the victories far from assured at both the Surrey Fire Fighters' Goodwill Classic and the Surrey RCMP Basketball Classic tournaments.

The Panorama Ridge Thunder lived up to its team name, rolling in and upsetting the Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers in the championship game of the Goodwill Classic.

The annual all-Surrey girls high school basketball tournament, which this year saw 20 schools competing, took place at Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary Jan. 3-7.

Panorama Ridge, ranked fifth in B.C. senior girls high school basketball, charged to a 76-71 victory in the final minutes of Axe division championship against the fourth-ranked Panthers.

Thunder forward Savannah Dhaliwal was named tournament MVP.

The Surrey Fire Fighters Association also gave $750 scholarships to seven players, including Simrit Bindra (Panorama Ridge), Navdeep Dhunna (Queen Elizabeth), Allison Hill (Earl Marriott), Katrina Frankenberger (Fleetwood Park), Jasmine Ghag (Tamanawis), Jessica Vidovic (Lord Tweedsmuir) and Elizabeth Wallace (Frank Hurt).

Semiahmoo Secondary won the Ladder division title, beating Guildford Park Secondary in the final.

The following week at the Surrey RCMP Basketball Classic, 22 Surrey's boys teams hit the court at Enver Creek Secondary from Jan. 10-14.

The Senior boys championship game saw the Semiahmoo Totems and Panorama Ridge Thunder go head-to-head in a nail-biting battle. The Totems got an early lead and despite the Thunder fighting back, Semiahmoo hung on for a 66-63 win, securing its first championship title in more than two decades.

The Totems' Brian Wallack was named tournament MVP.

Lord Tweedsmuir beat Semiahmoo for the Junior title.