      It has been a successful season for the junior girls basketball players who won the district competition in Sturgis February 26-27, said Coach Ronda O’Dell.
           After defeating Melville twice and YRHS twice this season, the girls went into ECDAA Districts ranked first overall, she said.
           At district, the girls teamed up against Kamsack whom they defeated 53-13, O’Dell said. As the girls continued their climb up the A side, their match against Yorkdale ended with a 39-9 win.
           As expected, the A final would be played against Yorkton Regional High School, she said. The first quarter was tight as Canora had a lead of 11-8. By half-time the gap had widened as the girls held the lead at 25-16. It was the third quarter that sealed the lead as Canora pushed ahead 46-21 and Yorkton just could not recover. The final score was 55-33. Top scorers for that game were: Carley Ostafie with 15 points, Felicity Mydonick with 14 points, and Mackenzie Gulka with nine points.
           O'Dell said: "It has been such an amazing season working with a group of talented young ladies."
           She is so proud of their accomplishments this year and says it is their attitude both on and off the court, their hard work, and their dedication to the team that led them to deserve this championship.
           Even though the Grade 9's will be moving on to senior ball next year, O'Dell says she looks forward to working with them again in Grade 12.
           "Mr. (Curtis) Baillie and I have agreed to a three-year plan. That means there will be some rotation with coaching which will keep the basketball program going strong for years to come".
           The grade 7s and 8s coming up are going to be strong as well, O’Dell said.
           "There is a good core of girls to work with who will be every bit as strong as this group. The grade 8s will carry on the positive attitudes and work ethic passed on to them by the grade 9s," she said.
           O'Dell said she is not quite done with this team yet though. The girls have a strong desire to play club basketball so information will be coming out soon as the team prepares to travel to some tournaments in Saskatoon and Regina in the spring in the U15 category.
