The Sacred Heart Saints senior girls’ basketball team knew they were in tough this past weekend at the SHSAA 4A Girls Regionals in Regina after they found out their first opponents would be the recently crowned Regina City champion Luther Lions and their 6’4” superstar Angela Bongomin.
However that didn’t prevent them from coming out and playing hard. “It was a little bit ironic. We usually start slow and finish strong but this time we had a good first quarter,” offered Lady Saints head coach Chris Hansen. “We came out strong and played our game and did well.
“We kind of flip-flopped it a little bit today and had a strong first quarter.”
Unfortunately the size and skill of Luther proved to be too much in the final three quarters, with the duo of Bongomin and fellow grade 11 centre Ally Jackson outmuscling the smaller Saint players in a 62-24 Sacred Heart defeat. “They had a bigger bench than we did and they had a couple of key players that really shut us down,” suggested Hansen, continuing, “Big girls that we had really never seen out in the Yorkton area and they really were the difference.”
The Lady Saints’ second game saw them play better both offensively and defensively; however it too ended in a loss, this time 56-37 to the Balgonie Greenall Griffins in the consolation round.
But despite ending the season with back-to-back losses, coach Hansen insisted that the season itself was a success. “For us it was a very successful season. We played .500 ball throughout the season which is good,” offered the Lady Saint head coach. “We’ve got some grade 12’s that have worked very hard since grade 10 to be on the court.
“They might not be superstars but they worked hard to be on the court and we’re very proud of their progress and how far they’ve come and I know they’ll do great things after they graduate.”
Graduating from the team are four members of the Saints, grade 12 athletes Taneisha Roussin, Bryn Hawkins, Taylour Ringdal and Hailey Vitkauskas.
And while those four players will be moving on, several key players will be continuing their basketball careers next season with the Saints. “We have a lot of speed coming back. Both guards, Kendra Varjassy and Justine Zarowny, are going to be two of the better guards around,” mentioned Hansen, continuing, “Both can drive, both are smart playmakers and every day they step on the court they get better at being a playmaker.
“We’ve got a nice group of young ladies coming up as well and I’m very impressed with how the team will look next year.”