SOUTHEAST SASKATCHEWAN - The Estevan Comprehensive School Elecs senior girls' and boys' basketball teams were at rural regionals Friday and Saturday, hoping to qualify for their respective Hoopla 5A provincial tournaments.
The senior girls, seeded sixth in the 10-team tournament, travelled to St. Mary's School in Prince Albert. They opened with a 70-39 loss to Prince Albert Carlton, with Sadie Aspinall having 12 points and seven rebounds to lead the team. Megan Porter added nine points.
ECS recovered to defeat Balgonie 68-42 in the consolation round. Aspinall had 21 points and Miley Granberg added 15.
Head coach Jessie Smoliak said Carlton's full-court caused problems, as the Elecs committed too many turnovers. Carlton led 23-12 at one point.
"The majority of our team is still young with most of them being in Grade 10," said Smoliak. "We just couldn't close the gap as Carlton pressed us the whole game."
Not many teams pressured them this year and if they did, it wasn't as aggressive as Carlton.
ECS had a slow start against Balgonie but ended the game well.
"Lots of good things in the second half which us coaches were happy to see."
Smoliak said the girls put in a lot of time this season and improved from the beginning of the campaign.
"The coaches are looking forward to the work the team will put into the postseason, as they know now what we need to do at regionals if we are going to be a competitive team in our 5A rural region," said Smoliak.
The senior boys were also seeded sixth for their regional tournament in Lloydminster. Estevan lost 84-76 to Prince Albert St. Mary's in their opening game, a contest that Estevan led 58-52 after three quarters. Koen Turner was the Elecs' top scorer with 38 points.
Then they lost 83-72 to Balgonie in their final game of the season. Jayden Kuchinka led the Elecs' offence with 18 points.
"We played very, very well our first game," said Elecs head coach Trevor Dutka. "Offensively and defensively, our game plan, we executed 100 per cent, and we really, really deserved to win that first game."
Against Balgonie, they played everybody and tried to have some fun and make some good passes. For the seven Grade 12s on the team, it was their final game.
"We always said we wanted to be playing our best basketball at the end of the year, and we did [against Prince Albert]," said Dutka.
Also at regionals, the Oxbow Prairie Horizons School Black Knights were at a 3A girls' qualifier in Wynyard. They were the 16th-seeded team in 3A. They opened with a 71-20 loss to top-ranked Wynyard, and then fell 41-40 to No. 8 Valley Christian Academy, based out of Osler, in the consolation round.
In 1A boys, the Stoughton Central School Bulldogs were ranked fourth and the host team for a regional tournament. They won 80-60 over No. 13 Leask to open the competition, but lost 58-52 to No. 5 Davidson in the regional final.
The Redvers School Rams were the 13th-ranked team in 2A boys. Competing at regionals in Norquay, Redvers lost 85-40 to No. 4 Norquay, and then fell 97-34 to No. 12 Foam Lake in the consolation round.
The Oxbow Prairie Horizons School Black Knights were seeded eighth for the 3A boys' division. Competing at an event at Regina Christian School, they opened with a 100-88 win over No. 9 Kindersley, but then lost 101-61 to the top-ranked host team in the final for the qualifier.
Hoopla is slated to happen March 21-23 in Moose Jaw, but teachers are slated to have a one-day strike on March 20, and withdraw from extracurricular activities on March 21 and 22, as part of their ongoing labour dispute with the provincial government.
The Saskatchewan High Schools Athletics Association says if sanctions aren't lifted before 3 p.m. on March 20, Hoopla will be cancelled.
