UNITY ‑ After SHSAA conference senior basketball played March 11 and 12, the Unity Composite High School Warriors, boys and girls, along with the Wilkie McLurg High School Broncs and Macklin Sabres girls’ teams, will advance to regionals. The only other Press-Herald area teams participating in conference basketball, the Macklin Sabre boys’ team, saw their season end.
The UCHS boys’ team travelled to Lashburn, where only three 3A teams were in competition for the conference title. As top seed, the Warriors awaited the winner of a Lashburn/La Loche matchup, ultimately playing Lashburn and defeating them 72-58.
The 3A UCHS girls’ team faced a little more competition at Osler where they had to play Watrous March 12 – beating them 65-28 – before taking on Osler Valley Christian Academy in the conference final March 13, also winning that game decisively, 80-38. Biggar and Dalmeny were also playing in the tournament but neither advanced to the final.
The 2A girls’ conference matchups were held at McLurg High School in Wilkie, with three teams competing. The Macklin Sabres took on the Maidstone Huskies in the morning, winning that game 47-37.
The Sabres then met the top-seeded McLurg Broncs in the afternoon. About halfway through the second quarter, the Sabres were only a point behind, 13-14, but a bit of foul trouble for Macklin combined with Wilkie pressing harder made the score 38-21 for the Broncs by halftime. The game ended with a Wilkie victory of 65-29.
As conference gold and silver medallists, both the Broncs and the Sabres will advance to regionals, March 18 and 19.
Living Sky School Division IT specialist Ryan Kobelsky and the McLurg information processing class will livestream the Wilkie-hosted 2A girls’ regional tournament featuring McLurg, Asquith, Hepburn and St. Brieux. The Wilkie girls will meet Asquith in their first match, 6 p.m. March 18.
Macklin will travel to Moose Jaw to take on Davidson in regionals.
UCHS will be a busy place with both Warrior teams hosting regionals. The boys will play Prince Albert Collegiate Institute at 4:30 p.m. and the girls take on the Moose Jaw Riverview team at 6:15 p.m., both on March 18. Playoffs will follow throughout the day March 19 to determine the regional champions.
The Macklin boys’ team played at Langham in a five-team 2A conference tournament. Unfortunately, they lost their first game, played March 12, to Mistawasis, 51-45. Mistawasis went on to beat Leask 74-45 but lost to Langham 97-57 in the final, with Langham being crowned the conference champs.
