The Lake City Falcons senior girls basketball team shot to a fourth place finish during the weekend at the North Central Zone Championships in Fort St. John.
Six players — Laura Pfleiderer, Emma Pfleiderer, Alyssa Gossen, Morgan Blois, Kaitlyn Berkelaar and Lori Saunders — attended for the Falcons.
The Falcons opened their tournament with a 55-45 loss to Dawson Creek.
“We lost our first game due to defensive breakdowns and offensive inefficiency,” said Falcons head coach Raji Lalli.
Laura dropped 21 points, Emma had 10 points and eight rebounds and Gossen had seven points and nine rebounds.
Next, the Falcons downed their rivals from Quesnel, 45-34, where Laura scored 24 points, Emma had 10 points, Blois had nine points and Gossen hauled down 14 rebounds.
“This put us in our second do-or-die game against Dawson Creek,” Lalli said. “We started slow but were able to pick up momentum and swing the score our way by the end of the third quarter to lead by two points.
“At the end of the third quarter Laura had 16 points, 11 boards, two blocks and three steals but fouled out.”
With two starters fouled out and an extremely short bench, Lalli said they were forced to finish the game with just four players on the court.
Emma had 11 points and 15 rebounds and Gossen had eight points and 11 rebounds.
“We pushed hard but we fell short by six points [in a 51-45 loss],” she said.
Lalli noted the team will say farewell to several of its senior players this season as they are set to graduate: Laura, Emma, Naomi Lomavatu, Melanie Wintjes, Monique Anderson, Kylie Forseille, Lori Fontaine and Camilla Pittman.
“We would also like to express our condolences to the Storoschuk family,” Lalli said. “Laura [Kaufman Storoschuk] had, of course, taught several of our players and played in the ladies basketball league.”
North Peace finished first, Prince George Secondary School was second, Dawson Creek took third and Correlieu Secondary School finished fifth at zones.
The Lake City Falcons senior boys basketball team competes in its zone championships this weekend.