Both the Yorkton Regional High School Senior Boys and Girls basketball teams were in action this past weekend.
The girls headed to Weyburn for a tournament while the boys ventured to Melfort for a two-day tournament of their own.
The senior Raiders boys basketball team started off strong in Melfort, easily beating John Paul II from Saskatoon by a score of 64-30.
They stumbled in their semi-final match up against the always strong Prince Albert Carlton Crusaders, losing 51-25 before dropping the third place game to host Melfort by a 48-42 score despite Raiders grade 12 player David Balysky drilling five three-pointers.
When asked, via a phone interview, about where his team could improve before their next tournament, Raiders senior boys head coach Jason Payne made it quite clear: Their offence needs to be better. "When we score 25 points in a game I think that shows we need to work on our scoring. We struggle with that."
Payne did, however, commend his teams defensive play, saying, "I think defensively we're really solid but we still need to work on it."
It was much the same on the senior Lady Raiders side of things. Their defence rose to the occasion for the most part, however their offence failed to click, resulting in three straight losses in their Weyburn tournament.
The senior Lady Raiders opened the Weyburn tournament against the Estevan Elecs and lost in decisive fashion 52-32 despite a 10 point, seven rebound performance by Breanna Melnechenko. Tess Berezowski also chipped in with six points while pulling down a team high nine rebounds.
Game two saw the Lady Raiders in a defensive battle with Assiniboia; a defensive battle which they lost 38-27. Leading scorers for the Lady Raiders were Hunter Frankfurt with four points and eight rebounds while Melnechenko once again led the way with 14 rebounds.
In their third and final game of the tournament the Lady Raiders met with their rivals from down Gladstone Avenue the Sacred Heart Saints. The Saints got the better of the Raiders, downing the YRHS 55-44. Leah Fleger and Berezowski led all Raiders players with 14 points each.
When asked to sum up the tournament for her team, Lady Raiders head coach Jessica Schmidt had this to say. "This weekend in Weyburn provided us with an opportunity to see how far the girls have grown since our first games back in November. While their defence has improved immensely in terms of skill, what I was most proud of was their ability to dig deep and do those things like rebounding and getting into help side position that require that extra effort and drive."
"The weekend also opened our eyes to what we need to improve on. Our turnovers are what beat us this weekend. Being able to play successfully against pressure will definitely be the focus of this weeks' practices."
The Lady Raiders next game will be 2:30p.m. on Friday when they take on the Sacred Heart Saints at the Halo Dome at Sacred Heart to kick off Sacred's home tournament.
