KSS girls curl to Okanagan title; take aim at another provincial medal

Katelyn McGillivray and her Kelowna Owls rink avenged their only loss of the weekend to earn a second straight berth at the B.C. high school girls curling championship.

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The Grade 11 skip and teammates Erika Ellis (third), Grace Milligan (second), Naiomi Hayward (lead) and Megan Sergerie (alternate) defeated the North Kamloops Saints 9-6 in the Okanagan Valley final on Sunday for the right to represent the zone at the eight-team provincial playdown in New Westminster March 1-3.

Despite an 11-4 loss to NorKam’s Rachel Johnson rink in round-robin play, the Kelowna Secondary School foursome earned a berth in the zone final by virtue of its 3-1 record.

Tied 3-3 after two ends in the final, a key takeout in the third end by McGillivray put the Owls the lead, one they wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the way at the Kelowna Curling Club.

A missed draw by the Saints’ skip in the fourth end gave KSS a steal of two, and while NorKam got one back in the fifth, McGillivray extended the lead to 9-4 in the fifth end.

The Owls played a hitting game in the seventh and one miss resulted in NorKam scoring two. With a three-point lead heading into the final end, KSS got takeouts by Ellis and McGillivray to run the Saints out of rocks and seal the victory.

In its second appearance at provincials, the KSS rink, coached by Bob Harris, will be out to improve on its bronze-medal performance. Last year, McGillivray and crew finished 5-2 in round-robin play, but lost in a tie-breaker.

Meanwhile, the Okanagan Zone boys’ final saw the Penticton Lakers defeat the Westsyde Whundas 7-6.

Penticton, skipped by Tane Kita (Owen Manning, Keiji Kita, Zack Kuechle, Mathew Lowery) and coached by Peggy Sakamoto, earned a berth in the title match by defeating the Salmon Arm Gold 7-5 in semifinal play.

A 9-5 victory in an all-Kamloops semifinal showdown with the Sa-hali Sabres earned Westsyde (Bryan Yamada, Daniel Griffiths, Nolan Bottineau, Zander Landygo – coach Ray Olsen) its spot in the final.

The Lakers will also represent the Okanagan at the provincial playdowns in New Westminster (Royal City Curling Club).

Three other secondary school teams represented the Central Okanagan, including the Okanagan Mission Huskies’ and Kelowna Owls’ boys team and the George Elliot Coyotes’ girls team.

The OKM rink was skipped by Logan Lalonde and included Spencer Ursel, Seth Loewan, Jason Hoffman and Sean McIntyre. Coaches are Bob Ursel and Eric Hoffman.

KSS, coached by Travis Wielgosz and skipped by Charly Reed, also included Eli Wielgosz, Brandan Sedmak and Nolan Schmeeckle.

Abby Otteson skipped the George Elliot team, with Jaiden Lloyd, Madeline Muir and Ella Casparis rounding out the rink coached by Dave McGarry.

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