Yorkton Regional Lady Raider leading scorer Amber Tilcox鈥檚 2016 basketball season is not over just yet.
The 15-year-old basketball phenom 鈥� who won鈥檛 turn 16 until the beginning of October 鈥� recently attended tryouts for the 2016 Saskatchewan girls鈥� U16 team, where she impressed coaches enough to earn a spot on the Provincial team to become the first Lady Raider to do so in over 10 years.
鈥淚鈥檓 pretty proud to have made the team,鈥� Tilcox told Yorkton This Week during an interview Monday evening, adding that throughout tryouts she wasn鈥檛 sure whether she would impress enough to earn a spot on the U16 squad. 鈥淭here were a lot of really good players there, and they all knew each other from last year, so I wasn鈥檛 sure I鈥檇 be able to make the team.鈥�
Tilcox said that her feeling of unease in regards to making the team didn鈥檛 go away after the first of the three tryout practices; a practice she felt wasn鈥檛 her best. 鈥淲e had a long drive to Regina for the first tryout and I was pretty tired, so I really didn鈥檛 even think I had a chance to make the team after that,鈥� mentioned the YRHS grade 10 student.
However, the second and third tryout practices went well, leading Tilcox to believe that she might just have a shot at making the team. 鈥淭here were a couple of other tryouts that weekend as well and they both went really well, so by that point I still wasn鈥檛 sure if I would make the team, but I knew I had a better chance now than I did after the first one,鈥� said Tilcox, continuing, 鈥渁nd then I found out that I made the team, and I was surprised, but it felt great.鈥�
One person that wasn鈥檛 surprised that Tilcox made the team was her high school basketball coach, YRHS Lady Raider head coach Jessica Kyle, who has watched Tilcox grow as a player from the beginning of grade nine until now. 鈥淚 knew she had a really good chance at making the provincial team if she played like she did all season,鈥� suggested Coach Kyle. 鈥淪he鈥檚 had a strong season and she鈥檚 a hard worker, but she鈥檚 from Yorkton, so she鈥檚 not exposed to the basketball community outside of Yorkton at all, so for her to go to those practices and go to those tryouts and make the team, I鈥檓 so excited for her and proud of her, but I knew she could do it.鈥�
Tilcox will now continually travel to Saskatoon and Regina for provincial team practices, while also taking part in some high-calibre basketball tournaments such as the HoopSource West Coast Spring Showcase in Portland, Oregon May 14-15, as well as a tournament in BC later in the summer.
