It was a rather successful weekend for the YRHS Lady Raiders basketball team.
The senior Lady Raiders travelled to Weyburn for a two day tournament and returned as second place finishers, defeating Melfort 69-50 and Indian Head by 30 with their lone loss coming at the hands of the tournament hosts 53-45.
Head coach Jessica Kyle said that the key to the successful weekend was to start off strong against Melfort, something her girls were able to do. 鈥淲e came out really strong in our first game,鈥� mentioned coach Kyle, adding a quick start against Melfort was big. 鈥淭he last time we had played Melfort it was a close game right to the end, and this time we came out and beat them by almost 20 while being able to rotate our bench pretty consistently so that was really nice.鈥�
What wasn鈥檛 nice however, was how the Lady Raiders began their second game of the tournament against the host Weyburn Eagles. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if we were a little bit complacent when we played Weyburn the next day. Maybe we were feeling a little bit too comfortable or confident, that might have been our problem and it cost us and we lost,鈥� said the Lady Raider head coach, adding that her girls need to be able to refocus for each and every game. 鈥淲e just need to be able to take it game by game and try not to take anyone lightly.鈥�
In the final game of the tournament against Indian Head, coach Kyle said she saw some things that impressed her, particularly the play of two of her grade 12 girls. 鈥淎bbey Hollinger and Olivia Tomcala had great weekends,鈥� noted Kyle. 鈥淎bbey did what was asked of her and she played extremely hard when on the court. I think she attacked the hoop a little bit more and took some more open shots when she would have passed or held up in the past.
鈥淥livia, who is one of our posts, took the ball to the hoop and had some nice little layups and postups that helped us in the scoring department.鈥�
The Lady Raiders also travelled to Regina last Tuesday to take part in an exhibition game against the 5A Regina 鈥� O鈥橬eill Titans. The Regional got off to a fast start and never looked back, downing the Titans 63-49. 鈥淚 think this win shows how far our girls have come in the last three years,鈥� said coach Kyle, continuing, 鈥淭he time that they have put into the gym and into the team and how they have bought into the program, it鈥檚 now showing them that it has paid off.
鈥淭o compete against those Regina teams and then to come out ahead in those games is something that the girls should definitely be proud of.鈥�
The YRHS Lady Raiders will now travel to Moose Jaw on Thursday to take part in a three-day, 16-team tournament.
Jr. Lady Raiders
The YRHS Jr. Lady Raiders hosted their home tournament this past weekend. The young Raiders finished second overall, beating Grandview 39-24 in the first game. Kayleigh Payne led the Raiders in scoring.
That win moved the Jr. Lady Raiders to the semi-finals where they dispatched Dauphin 48-34 thanks in large part to 15 points from Paige Novakowski.
The final game of the tournament saw the Jr. Lady Raiders put up a valiant effort but ultimately fall to Moose Jaw Peacock 66-39. Bryn Nystrom led the Regional with 10 points in the loss.
