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Wildcats roll to 7th straight Richmond title

McMath dynasty in senior girls basketball continues with no end in sight

It’s seven straight Richmond senior girls basketball titles and counting with no end in sight to the McMath Wildcats’ dynasty.

The Wildcats rolled to another city banner on Thursday night with a 103-51 victory over the Steveston-London Sharks. They haven’t lost a game to a Richmond opponent during their dominating run and it likely won’t happen anytime soon either. Their 9-player roster features three Grade 9s, a Grade 10 and three Grades 11s.

McMath’s arsenal was on full display with plenty of inside scoring and some lethal shooting from the perimeter too — led by the 27-point performance from Abby Bodden. The Grade 11 sizzled from three-point range — connecting on seven of 13 attempts, including five 3-balls in the third quarter alone.

Liz Kennedy added 20, while Marina Radocaj, Caitlin Kippan and Kiayra Hohlweg had 14 each. Kate Carkner, Quincy Hinds, Hope Chan and Caitlin Bradley-Tse round out the roster.

“We’re pretty deep and we can score from a lot of places,” said McMath coach Jamie Kippan. “We shot the ball well tonight and every girl, from top to bottom, played well.”

The Wildcats have been a fixture in the top four of the provincial 3A rankings all season. Their city title was expected to be a formality, as will next week’s inaugural South Fraser Championships in their own gym. 

It will then be off to the Langley Events Centre in two weeks where they hope to benefit from a tournament heavy schedule that included wins at Heritage Woods and York House last weekend.

“We have beaten some good teams this year and we have to use every game to benefit us for provincials,” added Kippan. “Our goal is to be South Fraser No. 1 and go deep into provincials as we can. 

“It’ been somewhat of a weird year in a new zone and new tier. We’re also pretty young and our youth plays more than some of our older kids. It’s a weird dynamic that way. But this is also a really good group of kids.”

As for the Sharks, they will very much be in the mix for the second provincial spot up for grabs at the South Fraser playoffs as the No. 3 seed. It will come down to a potential semi-final game next Wednesday in the single knockout event. 

They were led by Mina Chong’s 18 points. Dana Sander added 12.

Here are the individual award winners honoured last night:

Richmond League All-Stars

Raquel Jakac (Boyd), Davian Tsang (Burnett), Aleena Saqib (Cambie), Ashley Grewal (McNair), Amy Leung (MacNeill), Liz Kennedy (McMath), Rana Ghadymimahani (Palmer), Jenise Lo (Richmond High), Aimee Buhr (Richmond Christian), Sharlene Siy (Steveston-London).

Richmond Championship All-Stars

Theresa Lu (Richmond High), Christina Sofikitis (Boyd), Rana Ghadymimahani (Palmer), Mina Chong (Steveston-London), Shir Dayan (Steveston-London), Caitlin Kippan (McMath), Marina Radocaj (McMath).

Richmond MVP: Liz Kennedy (McMath).