High school basketball teams from both Hapnot Collegiate and Creighton Community School headed south for major tournaments last weekend, with each winning at least once.
Manitoba’s AA girls’ provincial tournament, which was held in Souris, was not originally supposed to feature Hapnot. The Kweens made it into the tournament as one of a small number of wildcard teams, making the cut after a tough loss in the Zone 11 championship finals. With that invitation came a play-in game to enter the tournament proper, which the Kweens would have to win to earn a spot in the quarterfinals.
In their provincial bid, the Kweens started off with a 61-48 win in a play-in game against Teulon, getting Hapnot into the main bracket. In their matchup in the quarterfinals, the Kweens came up heartbreakingly short, losing to the Souris Sabres 50-48 and knocking the team into the consolation bracket.
The consolation bracket would include a northern rival for the Kweens in Margaret Barbour Collegiate from The Pas - the Spartans, who had faced the Kweens several times this season and beat Hapnot twice at zones, including in the finals. The Spartans also lost out of the main bracket in the quarterfinal round in close fashion, losing 60-58 to College Regional Gabrielle-Roy from Ile-des-Chenes, setting up a possible Flin Flon-vs.-The Pas grudge match.
However, that wasn’t to be. Hapnot lost their first consolation round game 55-45 to Carman, knocking them out of the tournament. Carman would then face MBCI in the consolation round final, which would end up going 57-45 to the Spartans.
The title would eventually be won by the Prairie Mountain Predators, based out of Somerset, who beat Gabrielle-Roy in the final 51-40.
Creighton
Both boys’ and girls’ teams from Creighton Community School headed south last weekend too, aiming to move on up Saskatchewan’s high school basketball latter.
The senior boys’ Kodiaks team would play their regionals in Fort Qu’Appelle, coming in as the 11th seed in their bracket. The Kodiaks would lose their first game to Indian Head 65-52, but would come back for a big victory the next day over 14th seeds Oxbow in the consolation round, winning 75-34.
On the girls’ side, the senior Kodiaks came in as the 10th seed in the province for their regional games in Unity. Creighton won their first game, upsetting seventh-ranked Regina Christian 69-46 March 18, but lost the next day to the not-so-gracious host Unity 78-41.
Frontier
The provincial-level fun wasn’t just restricted to Flin Flon and Creighton, as two high schools part of Frontier School Division took part in provincials last week as well. The Frontier Mosakahiken Grizzlies from Moose Lake/Mosakahiken Cree Nation played in the Manitoba A school provincial tournament in Fisher River, first beating Wawanesa 92-34 to set up a date in the semi-finals, then defeating Pinawa 75-57 in the semis for a berth in the tournament final. Alas, a Cinderella run to provincial glory wasn’t to be, as the Glenboro Panthers handed Frontier Mosakahiken a 93-68 L in the finals.
The Frontier Raiders from Cranberry Portage’s Frontier Collegiate got into the Manitoba junior varsity A/AA tournament earlier this month, winning their way in over Major Pratt 83-27 before losing to eventual champions Gabrielle-Roy 81-63. In the consolation round, Frontier beat Treherne 68-45 to set up a date in the B-side final, where they would lose 85-61 to Lac du Bonnet.
