The Camosun Chargers men’s and women’s basketball teams gave great performances and walked away with bronze medals at this year’s Pacific Western Athletic Association (PACWEST) provincial championships, held at the Pacific Institute for Sports Education (PISE) from Thursday, March 2 to Saturday, March 4.
The women’s basketball team went into the PACWEST basketball championships as the number-three seed. The team had a great season, finishing with a record of 10-8, just behind the Capilano Blues and the Vancouver Island University Mariners.
In the quarterfinals, the Chargers faced the number six seed, the Langara Falcons. Langara finished the regular season with a 5-13 record, so the Chargers were heavy favourites to take this game.
In the first quarter, the Chargers came out hot-handed and with incredible ball movement being able to find open shooters. Chelsea Espenberg was able to go 3-4 from three in this quarter alone. The Chargers dominated the boards, having 15 rebounds in the first quarter with a total of 47 in the game.
In the second quarter, the Chargers had a shooting slump: they were only able to make four field goals and two free throws. The third quarter wasn’t any better either, as they were only able to make two field goals and weren’t able to make a single three in two quarters. However, their defence and high pressure were sensational—they were able to stop Langara, which led them into the fourth quarter tied 37-37.
Right away in the fourth quarter, Allie Brinton scored five straight points, breaking the scoring drought from the Chargers. Her teammates followed and were on fire as they were able to shoot 6-10 from the field. The Chargers scored 22 points in this quarter and won the game 59-49.
Espenberg had 17 points, made an incredible 45 percent of her threes, and was named player of the game. Brinton finished the game with 10 points and nine rebounds, and Rhiannon Ware finished with 14 points and went 8-8 from the free-throw line.
In the semi-finals, the women’s team faced the number two seed, the VIU Mariners. VIU had a 15-2 record in the regular season and won all three games against the Chargers. VIU was the favourite but Camosun had shown before that they were able to compete against them.
In the first half, Camosun’s strategy was to play full-court press on the Mariners, however, this came back to bite them quickly as Camosun’s first-team all-star, Tegan Michel, fell into foul trouble early and could only play six minutes in the half. By half-time, the team had 16 fouls and were losing 14-35 with most of their starters on the bench due to foul trouble.
Things didn’t change much in the second half: the Chargers racked up 15 more fouls, but were able to score a little more efficiently. In the end, the Chargers lost 44-67; they were only able to shoot 24 percent from the field and they fouled 31 times, with the starters amounting to 21 of them. VIU went on to the finals and won the PACWEST championships against the Capilano Blues.
The Chargers couldn’t do anything to stop VIU as they were compromised with fouls from the beginning and had to play with their bench for most of the game.
In the bronze medal game, the women’s Chargers team faced the number four seed, the Douglas College Royals. The Royals finished the season with a 9-9 record, and they were the Chargers’ main rival this season. However, Camosun won all three games against them in the regular season.
In the first quarter, the Chargers started slowly by not being able to shoot well from three and quickly fell into a nine-point deficit. However, this changed dramatically in the second quarter when the shots started falling in. They were able to score 22 points in this quarter and also held the Royals to only 12 points. Michel would go on to have her best game in the tournament as she scored 12 points in the first half, finishing with 19 total.
In the third quarter, the Chargers kept shooting lights out and went into the fourth quarter with a comfortable lead. However, Douglas managed to cut the lead to 4 points at the beginning of the quarter, and it all seemed set for them to complete a comeback. It was there when the player of the game, Allison Bobroske, took over the game, making incredible plays including a massive three-point shot with one minute left to increase the lead and seal the 66-57 win for the Chargers.
Bobroske had eight points in the last quarter alone, and 14 points total, along with 10 rebounds. Ware did not have any breathtaking stats in any of the games, but she was a key component for the team defensively, laying her body on the line and giving 100 percent effort in every single play.
The Chargers were incredible defensively all game long and they frustrated the Royals with their full-court press, which the Royals could never figure out. This is the third bronze medal in the history of the Chargers women’s basketball team, and the first one since 2019.
The men’s basketball team went into this tournament as the number two seed with a record of 12-6. Being second meant they waited for the winner from the quarterfinals between the Capilano Blues and the Okanagan Coyotes. That game was won 113-85 by the Blues.
The Chargers came into this game as the favourites as they were playing at home. However, the teams were extremely even every time they played each other in the regular season.
The game was very physical from the beginning, and they were scoring back and forth. After the first quarter, they were tied 18-18; however, the Chargers couldn’t keep up with the scoring contest in the second quarter and fell 39-31 at halftime.
In the second half, they came out with their shooting scoring 44 percent of their field goals and went into the last quarter only losing by four points. Unfortunately, in the fourth quarter, the Chargers were not able to make any clutch baskets or threes and in an upset fell to the Blues 80-70. The Blues would go on to win the championship against VIU 98-95.
The Chargers’ defence was excellent throughout the game, but at times they could not keep up with the Blues offensively in a very tight and exciting game. All of the Camosun starters were able to score double-digit points. Cole Belton led them with 16 points, and Noah Helman was named player of the game with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
After a heartbreaking loss a day before, the men’s team faced the number-four seed, the Langara Falcons, for the bronze medal. The Falcons finished the season with a 9-9 record, and the Chargers won two out of the three games they played against the Falcons. Camosun were the favourites to take bronze at home.
From the beginning of this game, both teams went back and forth with non-stop scoring. The Chargers came out with a great game plan that helped them find open shooters all first half long. They were able to sink in seven threes at halftime, with five coming from Calvin Sommers, who came out of the bench absolutely on fire. He was named player of the game after he finished with 18 points, making 60 percent of his threes. The game went into halftime tied 42-42.
In the second half, the Chargers did an amazing job on the defensive end, letting Langara score only five points in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, Langara tried to come back and tie the game, but Jaime Palamos Molins took over to close, scoring eight points in the last quarter alone. Camosun won the game with a dominant 75-57. Molins scored a total of 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Helman had another solid game with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Even though the men’s basketball team expected more from this tournament, they should be proud of the way they played, staying true to themselves with great defence and winning a bronze medal, their first championship medal since 2020.