By Rebel News | Created at 2025-04-01 00:51:20 | Updated at 2025-04-05 02:34:33
4 days ago
Well, well, well — would you look at that? After a season of being smeared as bigoted transphobes, having their head coach stripped away for standing up for safety in women’s sports, and being forced to compete against a towering 6'2" biological male, Abbotsford’s Columbia Bible College (CBC) Bearcats women’s basketball team did what seemed impossible.
Not only did the Bearcats make it to nationals, but they also took home first place, leaving what was once their biggest obstacle — Vancouver Island University’s (VIU) Mariners and their trans-identifying star athlete — without a medal.
You might remember the Mariners. That’s the team that rode through the entire Pacific Western Athletic Association (PACWEST) season undefeated, thanks in no small part to their top player, Harriette Mackenzie — a seasoned trans activist and biological male who’s been racking up titles in women’s and girls’ sports for years.
When CBC’s then-head coach, Taylor Claggett, dared to raise safety and fairness concerns about her players having to compete against Mackenzie, PACWEST’s response wasn’t to acknowledge the problem.
No, instead, they stripped Claggett of her coaching position, leaving CBC without its leader and even forbidding her from watching her girls play from the bleachers.
The small Christian college, with roughly 500 students, hadn’t won a single game in nearly five years before Coach Claggett came along. So, to lose her while having their image dragged through the mud by legacy media — who parroted Mackenzie’s claims of being a victim of transphobia after Claggett spoke out — may have been too much for some young athletes to handle.
Somehow, the Bearcats pushed through and pulled off a David vs. Goliath-style victory.
“Winning nationals is the greatest feat. It is something you dream of but don’t always see as possible,” a verified source close to the team told Rebel News under the condition of anonymity.
“Things didn’t go our way for so long, but we handled things the right way every week, even though others didn’t and seemed to be out to get us. We stayed together, stayed positive and followed the rules. It seemed that each week things didn’t go our way, but all of that led to the greatest accomplishment, and we can look back and say everything really did happen for a reason.”
I caught up with Jae Park, the father of CBC’s Grace Park, who couldn’t be prouder of his daughter and her teammates for overcoming all the adversity they faced and channeling it into victory.
Park also described an incident during nationals where a female player was forced to the ground by Mackenzie and sent flying into the base of the basketball pole.
“This is just a gross and disgusting demonstration of this evil and injustice,” stated Park.
While the Bearcats achieved the ultimate comeback story by becoming the top team in the nation, the political persecution of Coach Claggett is still unresolved.
Rebel News did not receive a response from PACWEST regarding when they intend to lift their restrictions on Coach Claggett.
Drea Humphrey
B.C. Bureau Chief
Based in British Columbia, Drea Humphrey reports on Western Canada for Rebel News. Drea’s reporting is not afraid to challenge political correctness, or ask the tough questions that mainstream media tends to avoid.
