The two local high schools joined forces for the third time to host the largest senior girls' basketball tournament in the area. Sacred Heart High School (SHHS) and the Yorkton Regional High School co-hosted a 12 team tournament at both school gyms over the weekend. The weekend featured the top high school teams in the province with several provincial defending champions taking to the court and providing some very entertaining basketball.
YRHS head coach Donna Kriger, event co-cordinator says the person who really did the lions share of the work was Saltcoats School secretary Heather Taylor. "She's really the brains behind the whole operation," Kriger quips.
The tournament ran very smoothly, says Kriger. The draw was set and teams were pooled based on results from the end of last season. "It looks like we've done a reasonably good job of pooling everyone. I think we most definitely have our top four teams playing off in the A pool and that's satisfying when you set up a draw to know that the four teams playing for number one, are playing," Kriger states.
The 12 teams at the tournament were pooled into four pools of three teams. There was a late cancellation by a Regina team. Meadow Lake fielded two teams to fill the gap and has done very well, says Kriger. "Their girls were exhausted last night after the fourth straight game they had to play, but they've done extremely well," Kriger reports.
This year the YRHS Senior Lady Raiders lost their starting guard. "That left a big hole in a very important position," says Kriger. Currently the team carries eight rookies, including six Grade 9s, and two Grade 10 as well as four returning veterans, Kriger re-ports. "We're very young this year, but I think we're really excited about the potential of this team, maybe not this year but in years to come," she continues.
She expects to see great improvement from this team as the season progresses. "And no one knows what March holds for anyone," Kriger suggests.
The returning veterans are providing some solid leadership and helping the younger players, Kriger acknowledges.
While the veterans manage to get inside, the younger players aren't afraid to take the shot from the outside, says Kriger. "Most of them have nice shots and good accuracy. For Grade 9s, they bring with them a pretty strong skill set," she suggests. What they lose in strength and size as young players, they make up for in heart and determination, Kriger adds.
SHHS Senior Lady Saints head coach and tournament co-coordinator Trent Senger says the cooperation between the two schools allows the local schools to come up against some very good teams from around the province. "Some very good teams are now starting to come to it, and that's the whole purpose, to expose our teams to some really good basketball," he notes.
Senger credits Kriger, her assistant coach Tony Hayden and Taylor with carrying out the lion's share of the work organizing the event.
Of the 15 girls on the SHHS team, 13 are playing now, Senger reports. Two of his rookies are new to basketball and are just learning the sport. He hopes to have all players on the court before the season ends.
The team is very young with only one returning senior. The bulk of the team is Grade 10 girls. "We're young and we're going to take our lumps. In a year or two we're going to be able to give them out," he predicts.
The Lady Saints have a lot of tall players, Senger points out. He's working on rebounding to turn it into a major strength. Shooting is always an issue with younger players. "My goal is to become a very strong shooting team, but we've got work to do," he suggests.
This year the Saints are trying a schedule with a new wrinkle. Rather than playing one game per night, they will bring a lot of different teams to play two games in one night as a mini-tournament. The plan hopes to save some driving as a lot of teams are facing a cost crunch, Senger states. This year the Saints will try four evening mini-tournaments with three competing teams. "The refs only travel once. The other teams only travel once. It might become a trend for the future for all our teams to get more games and less traveling," he says.
Senger urges Yorkton to come out to take a look at what senior basketball in the city can be. "We both (SHHS and YRHS) have had two very competitive teams all along. We're both in a rebuilding year. Come out and watch some good basketball in the future." he closes.
