Okanagan College hosts basketball provincials

The Okanagan College Coyotes will host the women’s and men’s PACWEST basketball provincial championships beginning Thursday at Kelowna Christian School.

The three-day tournament will feature four games a day concluding with the medal games on Saturday. The women’s bracket will begin each day at 12:30 p.m. and conclude each night with the men’s bracket at 8:00 p.m.

The Coyotes will welcome the six-team bracket to Kelowna for the first time in school history. Teams will battle for the Conference gold medal and a berth into the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association’s (CCAA) National Championship taking place in two weeks.

Coming into the event, the Coyotes are ranked sixth on both the women’s and men’s side and will open the tournament on Thursday. The women will tip the tournament off at 12:30 p.m. against Abbotsford’s CBC Bearcats while the men will meet the third seeded Langara College Falcons on Thursday night at 8:00 p.m.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for our College,” Jenn Naiman, Athletics, Recreation, Student Life Coordinator, said. “Our goal at OC is to support students and the communities where we operate. We are excited for this opportunity to welcome student athletes from around B.C. to our region for the first time ever and look forward to a great PACWEST Championship.”

The PACWEST Conference will receive two berths into the CCAA national championship. On both the women’s and men’s side of the bracket the two teams that qualify for the gold medal game on Saturday will win the right to go to nationals.

The women head to Lakeland College in Alberta, while the men will travel across the country to New Brunswick and Mount Allison University.

Tickets for the PACWEST championship tournament can be purchased at the door of Kelowna Christian School beginning at 11:30 a.m. each day.