The Riverside Rapids are off to a strong start at this year's girls AAA basketball provincial championships in Langley this week.
The team, which recently finished third in the Fraser Valley playoffs last week, defeated the Steveston-London Sharks 79-66 in the opening game of the B.C. tournament.
Riverside took the bulk of their points up close, scoring 32 from the paint, with their largest lead coming early in the first half when the club jumped ahead by 18 points. Fiona Beales led the team with 22 points and was 10 for 17 from the field, while forward Dani Antiginani put up 17 points in the game and was three for four at the free-throw line.
Meanwhile, Desha Puri had two steals and five assists in the game and was third in team scoring with 14 points.
Overall, the rapids were 42.7% from the field and had a three-point percentage of 18.8. The team took 11 points off of turnovers and managed 12 points from its bench players.
Riverside was expected to take on the South Kamloops Titans Thursday night at 5:15 p.m. after The Tri-City News' deadline. The winner of that match moves on to the semifinals, which takes place on Friday, before the championship game gets underway on Saturday. For up to the minute scores go to www.langleyeventscentre.com/aaagirls.
