Provincial Champions!

The Immaculata Senior Girls Basketball team have done it again! For the second straight year, and 4th of 5 years, they have won the Single A Provincials. Here is the story quoted from the Kelowna Capital News:

Mustangs grab 4th title in 5 years

	Fred Schaad/Contributor Immaculata’s Taryn Lazarus eyes up the basket during the B.C. high school girls A basketball final on Saturday at Kelowna Christian. The Mustangs beat Mount Sentintel 65-58 to win the provincial title for the fourth time in five years.

Down by 12 points in the second quarter, it may have looked to some like the Immaculata Mustangs reign as provincial champions was over.
But not to Kayla Ungaro and her teammates who rallied to beat Mt. Sentinel 65-58, claiming Immaculata’s fourth B.C. A girls basketball crown in the last five years.
“It was a bit concerning, but the girls always seem to come through when they need to,” said Ungaro, one of five Grade 12 players who are graduating from the Mustangs program. “We just believed we were going to come back, and it’s nice that we were able to do it.”
Immaculata fell behind early in Saturday’s provincial final at Kelowna Christian school, and trailed 25-13 midway in the second quarter.
But Dino Gini’s club turned up the heat and, by three-quarter time, had drawn even with Mt. Sentinel, 45-45.
The fourth quarter belonged to the Mustangs—ranked No. 1 and favoured to repeat as champions all season long—who delivered under pressure in front of a packed house and pro-Mustang crowd.
“To win you have to have a plan, but you need character, too,” said Gini, the Mustangs head coach. “Our girls really showed character and that came through in the final. They could have easily let down when they fell behind, but they didn’t.
“It was a great win for us against a really tough team.”
Taryn Lazarus led Immaculata in the final with 21 points. Ungaro and Lazarus were joined on the tournament’s first all-star team by Alex Basso.
Basso was also named the tournament’s most inspirational player.
Ungaro, Lazarus, Gabby Guidolin, Heather Leier and Nicole Parker all played in their final game for the Mustangs.
Meanwhile, the host Kelowna Christian Knights took sixth place overall at the 12-team provincial championship.
The Knights, who finished the weekend with a 2-2 record, fell 69-46 to Charles Bloom secondary in Saturday’s fifth/sixth place game. Chelsey Forsberg scored 10 points, while Brianna Erhardt had eight for the Knights.
Forsberg was named to the tournament’s second all-star team, while Elysia Bewernick of KCS earned honourable mention.

We're off to Provincials!

After easily winning their way through Cities, and playing an entertaining set of Valleys, the Senior Girls team is off to Provincials in early March! A hard-fought win by 7 points in the Valley finals has propelled the girl into provincials to defend their title from last year. Provincials are in early March at Kelowna Christian Schhol, just down the road from Immaculata. The girls are practicing hard so they can defend their title, and continue to be the best Single-A team in British Columbia. Stay tuned for provincial updates!

We're home!

After about 15 hours of travel (from the time we left the airport) we are home! Yeah! It has been a long day...not many people got a decent amount of sleep...I see this being an early night for most. It has been fun keeping you all up to date. I will post some photos of the trip in the next couple days.

Until then,

Tim

Last Day in Paradise

Well...the vacation is almost over. It has been a blast. The girls have really enjoyed themselves. It seems like they spent more time at the beach, then on the court....wait...they did! Haha...the basketball was great to watch. They even managed to sneak in a practice this morning at the University of Hawaii's second gym. Coach Gini worked them hard. After the practice, it was another free day up until 4pm. We all travelled down to the Hilton to have some photos taken for the Catholics Program. They should be great...I would upload them...but I hear it might be a surprise for the program...we shall see. After photos, it was a team dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Most girls shared dinner so they would have room to share dessert as well. Mmmmm....it was so yummy. They are all currently out doing one last walk around...before meeting back here at 8:15pm to bring the bags all down to the lobby. Then at about 8:45pm we are off to the airport. We fly out at 11:55pm to Vancouver. The full itinerary is posted on the right under Hawaii Links so you can see when we land. If memory serves me correctly, it is around 12:19pm. I will try and do one last post in Vancouver...but who knows if we will be running to the gate again!

Pray for safe travel...see you all soon!

Tim

PS - it has been an honour keeping you updated on this blog. I might have to go again in 2 years at a chaperon/blogger. Take care...Aloha!

2nd Last Day

Well, today was the second last day we are in Hawaii. It was a free day to do whatever we wanted. Some of us (Joe, Mr Campbell, Jon, Mark and I) went to the Pearl Harbor site. It was unbelievable. Everyone else took it easy. Some shopped (what's new), others laid by the pool or on the beach. The team dinner has been moved to tomorrow as the girls were going to go to a women's NCAA basketball game, but there wasn't enough interest. Tomorrow they will have a group photo in front of the Hilton, and dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Then it will be off to the airport for our midnight flight out of here. I will try and post either at the Hilton, or at the airport.

Have a great night all.

Tim

Hanauma Bay

Today was a rather weird weather day. It rained, was hot, rained, was hot....you get the picture. The team went to Hanauma Bay to snorkel today. I would post pictures...but photo-finishing of underwater camera's is $$$. Everyone really enjoyed swimming with the fish and on top of the coral reef. Some freaked at the sight of fish, but all in all it was well enjoyed. After arriving back about 2:00, the girls had the rest of the day to themselves. I don't need to tell you that they shopped, because you can just assume that. (cause what else to girls do with $$$ and free time when it rains?). Tomorrow is another free day, so hopefully there will be sunshine to finish off the tans. Tomorrow night we are taking a team picture at the Hilton to put in the program for Catholics. Then we are off to the Cheesecake Factory for a team dinner. Should be great! Have a great night all!

Tim

Island Tour Day

Today we spent the day touring the island. First off, we had breakfast at the hotel, and then packed bag lunches to bring on the bus with us. Our first stop was the Dole Pineapple Plantation. It was a disappointment...just fields upon fields of pineapples in the ground. That's ok, it was a quick stop, so we had more time for the beaches. After the Plantation, we headed to Sunset Beach, where we spent about an hour and a half watching the 20 foot swells, and laying in the sun. Some of us fell asleep, and were loudly awaken by a tsunami warning system monthy test alarm. Very loud! From there, we drove along the entire North coast of the Island, then down about half of the East coast to a nice beach (which I can't remember the name of). Here it was a good 2 hours of fun in the sun...from swimming to burying the Gini boys in the sand. A worth-while stop. Then we drove back to the hotel, and the girls were given a free night to do whatever they like for dinner. Most ordered pizza and played Monopoly and cards with another team that is at our hotel.

Tomorrow we are off to Hanauma Bay to snorkel with the fishes. Should be a blast!

G'night all!

Tim

Lazy First day of 2007

Today the day was a lazy one. Everyone slept in after a late New Years Eve. The fireworks last night were unbelievable. The people down on the beach were the amazement of the night. We are guessing there were about 100,000 people on the beach watching the fireworks. Definitely a sight to see.

Before the fireworks we went to a luau on the beach. We drove 15 Hawaiian minutes (about 45 Canadian minutes!) to this neat place on the beach. We watch the sun set over the South Pacific (see picture!), and then were entertained all night. There was a big Hawaiian dance, huge smorgasbord, and lots of entertainment. Jon Ungaro even went on stage in a coconut bra and grass skirt. That was a funny sight. There was also fire-dancing and everyone got leid.

Today the girls had a free day. Some went to the beach, some surfed, and some went to a big Ala Moana Shopping Center. A nice relaxing day it was.

Tomorrow we are going on a bus tour of the island. First will be the Dole Pineapple Plantation, and then we will be visiting Makaha, Sunset Beach and the Bonzai Pipeline. Should be a great day!

Happy 2007!

Tim