Despite a dramatic comeback by the senior boys team that fell two points short, the Estevan Comprehensive School Elecs find themselves in a hole entering the second leg of the 77th annual McLeod Series.
Following a lacklustre 59-34 loss to Weyburn by the senior girls, the boys nearly pulled off an improbable rally late in the fourth quarter in a 63-61 loss to the Eagles on Wednesday at ECS.
Weyburn leads the series by 27 points, 122-95, heading into the second leg Feb. 9 in Weyburn.
Despite trailing by as much as 13 in the fourth quarter, the boys staged two rallies and got within a single point in the final minute, only to fall short on the last play of the game, an inbound under the Weyburn hoop.
"Our teams in the past always decided to give up when we were down by that much, but we battled back, showed a lot of heart and we were pretty proud of them for coming back," said senior boys assistant coach Rob Gallaway.
Nolan Tide led the Elecs with 19 points, including 17 through the first three quarters, but it was some clutch shooting from John Elder that helped ECS get back in it.
Elder, who had 15 points on the evening, sank two consecutive three-pointers with just over a minute remaining to make it a two-point game.
"He was kind of struggling a little bit, we took him off for a bit and he came back and stepped it up and hit some clutch shots," said Gallaway.
The Elecs had begun to rally with about six minutes left in the game, but soon began to fade, trailing by 10 points with 2:14 to go.
"We called a timeout and put on a press and once we put on the press, we got in their faces and got some momentum, a couple easy baskets and that started the push back," said Gallaway.
The Elecs led 13-10 after the first quarter, but fell behind 30-26 at the half and trailed by nine after three quarters.
"It was just a little bit of being tired and forcing our offence and making bad passes. Little mistakes," Gallaway said of the second and third quarters.
He added that two key players, including post Stefan Seipp, got into foul trouble.
The girls, meanwhile, got off to a strong start but faded quickly in the second half. Weyburn led 12-11 after the first quarter and 23-19 at the half. But they doubled their point total in the third quarter, taking a 46-28 edge.
The Eagles started the second half with an 11-0 run and ECS coach Jessie Elias said her team began to lose hope at that point.
"I felt in the fourth quarter, my team gave up. I had two Grade 12s who played from the beginning to the end and a Grade 9 who played beginning to end," said Elias.
"The rest, it was just brain collapses, I'd like to say; brain farts. It seemed like they didn't want the ball. They'd just rather give the ball to Weyburn.
"Weyburn got on a roll and it was really hard to stop them. The girls had a downfall from that."
Kristen Skjonsby and Tara Dodds were among the Elecs' point leaders.
Elias said her team hadn't played since Christmas and felt that played a role in the loss.
"Our biggest thing, I felt, was Weyburn has played two weekends and we haven't played for two weekends. This is us being rusty, coming off the Christmas break. You can practice all you want, but games are way different than practice."
It also didn't help that key player Bridget Bjorndalen got into foul trouble. Elias said playing against ball pressure is the main thing that needs to be worked on heading into the Feb. 9 game.
"The girls hadn't seen a lot of pressure before Christmas. I thought we covered that in practice, but I guess a practice is way different than a game."
The senior girls also played at a tournament in Moose Jaw on the weekend.
