Look up at the wall inside the Douglas College gym and you can see dozens of banners from the over 40 years of athletic history at the school.
Conversely, the Quest University gym's walls are completely bare until now.
The Quest University Kermodes women's basketball team dominated the Pacwest Provincials, which took place at Douglas from Feb. 27 to March 1, and took home the school's first-ever gold medal by defeating the host Royals 69-52 on Saturday (March 1).
Quest's strong team play carried them all season and led them to wins over Kwantlen on Thursday (Feb. 27), Camosun on Friday (Feb. 28) and the gold medal win over Douglas on Saturday.
For the team's three graduating players, Cassidy Osterling, Cynthia Lau and Courtney Harpur, it's been a four year journey to achieve the biggest prize in the Pacwest.
"It's crazy to be honest," Osterling said. "We said at the beginning of the year that our team goal was to go to Montreal and we made it happen. To think that four years ago we didn't even make the playoffs and now to be standing here with a gold medal is pretty insane."
Kermodes fans took over a large section of the Douglas gym and many times were noticeably louder than the host teams fans. The players said the support from their friends, family and fans was huge.
"It's nice to know our school supports us," Lau said. "A lot of them came down from Squamish just to watch us play. I saw the drums walk in and it felt like our home gym the fans helped make it our home gym for sure."
The gold medal game saw the Kermodes jump out to as much as an eight point lead in the first half but Douglas stormed back in the second quarter and cut the lead to four by the end of the first half. Harpur said the team managed to refocus and pulled away in the third quarter, outscoring the Royals by 14 points.
"We were still excited and just needed to refocus," she said of the team's mood at the end of the first half. "We took a couple of deep breaths, realized where we were and just kept playing."
Aimee Johnston was named the Kermodes player of the game as she collected 14 points, eight rebounds and one block. Shayna Cameron added 13 and tournament MVP Katrin Sandbichler added eight rebounds.
Head coach Dany Charlery said he's glad his team put it all together at the provincials.
"I've been there before so I understand the feeling," he said, referencing his time with Brandon University. "I just wanted them to experience it. Montreal [site of Nationals] was our goal when we started. The first meeting of the year we talked about giving ourselves a chance to get there and we made it a reality."
Charlery said the Kermodes wanted to try to put teams away early, something they mostly accomplished in each game. He said the team's depth and chemistry helped them ride the wave to a tournament win.
"Everyone knows their role and everything we've done we've done together," he said. "The environment here is so team oriented, it's so great to see and be a part of."
Cameron and Miriam Baumann were both named to the tournament all-star team and Sandbichler was named the tournament MVP but different players stepped up every game for the Kermodes.
The tournament win qualified Quest for the CCAA Nationals in Montreal from March 13 to 15. Charlery and Baumann both hail from Montreal, a fact that helped motivate the team to advance.
"We get to bring our coach home," said a beaming Harpur. "And one of our players home too. It's super exciting to get to bring them home words can't even describe."
Charlery said preparation for the Nationals begins soon but admitted he's excited to go back to his old stomping grounds.
"They hear me talk about Montreal all the time," he said, laughing. "I know a lot of the good spots there, it's a great city."
Quest will compete against the Champlain Cavaliers, Augustana Vikings, Holland Hurricanes, Algonquin Thunder, STU Tommies, MacEwan Griffins and the Nomades du Montmorency at the Nationals.
For more coverage of the Kermodes at the Provincials, including details on the men's team's bronze medal win, pick up the print edition of The Chief.
