The GP Vanier Towhees have been experiencing a few growing pains, early in the 2023-2024 high school basketball season.

The Towhees are 6-4 after their first 10 games.

鈥淭he first 10 games have definitely been a work in progress,鈥� said head coach Larry Street. 鈥淭he boys have looked efficient many times, and have looked very young and inexperienced at many others. They are competing in every game, and hopefully have learned from their lessons to date.鈥�

Vanier鈥檚 most recent road trip was to Nanaimo for the Hub City Classic, co-hosted by Wellington and NDSS, Dec. 14-16.

The towhees opened the tournament with a 82-65 loss to North Vancouver鈥檚 Windsor Wolves.

鈥淲indsor capitalized with their two strong inside players who (we) valiantly tried to contain but couldn鈥檛,鈥� said Street. 鈥淢issing 6鈥�6鈥� Walter Bulman-Fleming for the past week due to illness didn鈥檛 help.鈥�

Kai Canning shot very well and scored 20 points and Teagan Mundi pitched in 10.

Game two was against Kwalikum on Friday and Jace McDowell scored 23 points to lead the Towhees past Kwalikum 74-37. Vanier had a 16-0 run in the first half, and a 23-1 run in the second.

The fourth quarter was the best for the Towhees as they outscored Kwalikum 26-7 .

Mundi, Simon Scheurmann, and McDowell each hit multiple three-pointers for the Towhees. The team shot 9-for-25 from beyond the arc.

In their last game, the Towhees get past the Edward Milne team from Victoria, 59-45, thanks to the strong performances of McDowell, who scored 17 points, and Daelan Burgess-Marshall who had 16 rebounds and 13 points. Vanier dominated from the start to the finish, never trailing in the game and leading by as many as 20 points on their way to the victory. The Towhees passed the ball well with nine assists, had 16 steals, and added 37 rebounds.

This week

The Towhees head to Port Alberni on Tuesday for a league game, 7 p.m. (Game played after press time.)

A cross-town rivalry will set everyone up for the Christmas holidays, as Vanier plays Isfeld on Thursday night at 7 p.m. The senior girls play Isfeld as well and that game tips off at 5 p.m. This is an exhibition game, and precludes the league game which happens at Isfeld on Feb. 8.