The Southern Okanagan Secondary School entered the 2012 Okanagan Valley Championships as the number 1 seed, a seed which they lived upto. In their first game the Hornets met a less experienced, yet eager team WL Seaton from Vernon. The first quarter was very close as the Hornets showed bus league fatigue as they allowed the Seaton Sonics to hang tight as the score at the end of the first quarter was 24-20. In the second quarter the Hornets opened the game up as they outscored their opponents by 19 points, allowing them to cruise to a 27 point victory 91-24. Greet Gill led all scorers with 21 followed by Amit Chahal with 18, Raj Sidhu 17 and Gurkamal Dhaliwal had 10, Parm Sidhu only scored 3 points but he was the quarterback in this offense output as he had 15 assists. In the semi finals the Hornets faced off against their rivals from Penticton the Maggie Mustangs. The game started as one would expect between two rival combatants, however a late 1st quarter surge allowed the Hornets to take a 11 point lead 28-17. This was followed up by a lacklustre performance by the Mustangs as the Hornets outscored them by 13 in the second 28-8 allowing them to take a comanding 49-25 lead into half time. The second half was no better for the Mustangs as the Hornets won the 3rd quarter 25-10 and by the fourth quarter the game was pretty much over as both teams played their benches in a 89-54 victory, thus allowing the Hornets to advance to finals versus the Sahali Sabres. The Hornets were led by Greet Gill with 17 points, followed by Parm Sidhu and Babblu Brar with 15 a piece and Gurk Dhaliwal chipped in with ten, all Hornets hit the score sheet. The Hornets faced off against the Sahali Sabres a team that they have met two times in the Valley finals, the first time in 2010 which the Hornets won and then again last year in 2011which the Sabres won, so the stage was set for the rubber match. The Hornets came out flying as they were moving the ball with ease and were in control early as they jumped out to a 22-11 first quarter lead. The second quarter was an up and down battle as the Hornet pushed the lead to 25, but foul trouble forced the Hornets to go the bench which allowed the Sabres to narrow the gap to 16 at half. The second half was all Sabres as they seemed to feed off the large crowd that showed up to cheer on the hometown team cutting the lead to just four points with under 2 minutes to play. A few late minute antics allowed the fatigued Hornets to hang on to the victory as they prevailed 84-77. Gurkamal Dhaliwal lead the Hornets with 27 points as he hit 7 for 14 from behind the three point line, Amit Chahal had 17, followed by Raj Sidhu 12, and Greet Gill 11. The was win was the Hornets 3rd valley championship in 4 years.

Greet Gill was tournament MVP, Parm Sidhu, and Amit Chahal were named to the First All Star team. Gurkamal Dhaliwal was honourable mention.

The Hornets will now try to defend their provincial championships March 6th-10th in Kamloops.

Story submitted by Mo Basso

Photo by Julie Martine