Peacock And Vanier To Tip Off In City High School Senior Girls Basketball Final
Story and Photos by Robert Thomas
If there are such things as ghosts hanging out with the female jean shredding bears at Peacock Collegiate they were certainly out in full force on Thursday evening.
They likely weren’t sitting in the bleachers amongst the almost capacity crowd but rather they were out on the court helping out the home team Peacock Toilers.
Time and again the Toilers would make baskets that would hit the rim bounce up two feet, make a loop around the basket and drop in for two points.
For the visiting Central Cyclones, fresh of their Tuesday evening four/five qualifier victory over the Assiniboia Rockets, it was a much different story.
Shots that seemingly should have been in the basket would somehow bounce back, roll around the rim and then somehow simply fail to go in.
Ghosts or those invisible jean shredding bears were obviously hanging out on the backboard playing their game.
Something seemed to be against the Cyclones.
Out on the court it wasn’t much better for Cyclones.
The play was aggressive for both teams and if the bears weren’t hanging out on the backboard they most definitely were out on the court in what turned out to be a hard fought crash and bang physical matchup.
At the end of the night the Peacock Toilers defeated the Central Cyclones 60 - 41 in high school senior girls basketball semi - final playoff action.
The Toilers win will see them facing the Vanier Spirits (see the game report of the Spirits victory over the Lumsden Angels at the bottom of this article) in the senior girls city championship this coming Tuesday evening.
“It wasn’t our night. It was a rough, rough game,” Central Cyclones head coach Tanya McLean told MJ Independent in the post game interview.
The rough play and rules saw McLean calling for fouls and a bit of a sideline discussion with the head referee in the first half of the first quarter. A discussion she lost.
Asked how close the Cyclones were to their game plan - in light of her calling a timeout with 10 seconds of the start of Tuesday's qualifier matchup to reset the team - McLean said the team needs to improve.
“We need to play a full game,” she said, adding “it’s just that Peacock is a very good team. They are very quick.”
Asked if the game could be likened to the Toilers seemingly luck in sinking more than a few baskets could be compared to shooting at a pay per use pool table - where anything close to the pocket easily rolls in - McLean chuckled.
“That’s kind of been the theme the whole year for us. One of these days it’s all going to come together.”
Illness was not a factor on the team's play on Thursday evening unlike Tuesday when a bug noticeably ate into the Cyclones efforts.
“Healthwise I think we are doing OK,” she said.
Asked to look back at the Cyclones overall season McLean described it as a mixed affair.
“We've had moments of greatness but then we just need to play a full game well,” she said.
Despite the ups and downs the Cyclones have gone through this season the team has gotten better as the season progressed.
“They’ve improved. They’re an amazing bunch of girls.”
Although the Cyclones are eliminated from the hunt for the Moose Jaw city high school senior girls basketball championship they still have regional playdowns and an opportunity to make it to the provincial championship.
For Peacock Toilers head coach Brendan Fedoski it was a good night and outing for his team.
“You know what it was a fun game. We played really hard. We’ve played really hard competitively against Central the last three games. And tonight was just like the other ones too.”
“It was perfect,” Fedoski said about luck seemingly being on the Toilers side as all af the bounces throughout the game seemed to go their way.
“We talked about being mentally tough and getting over some of the things that we can’t control. And how bounces applies,” he said.
Asked about facing the Vanier Spirits or Lumsden Angels for the Moose Jaw city championship Fedoski said either would be a great matchup.
Note at the time of the interview it was unknown who had won the other semi-final.
“Either one whether it is Vanier or Lumsden that comes out of that semi-final we’ve had some really good games with either one of them…so I expect nothing less on Tuesday (at the city final championship game).”
The Toilers have seen growth throughout the season.
“At the start of the season it was a lot of individuals and to see their growth to where we are now its been amazing…I’m just fortunate enough to have the opportunity to have to coach this team. Yeah it’s been a lot of fun,” Fedoski said.
A big highlight this year has been the hotly contested rivalry between the Toilers and the Spirits.
Both teams have been neck and neck all season.
The rivalry between the Toilers and Spirits senior girls teams is by farcthe most hotly contested rivalry in all Moose Jaw high school basketball leagues.
“On the court it’s been intense. Off the court we're all friends. On the court we’re there to battle so I expect nothing less on Tuesday if they come out the winner.”
Quarter Scores
The score at the end of the First Quarter was Peacock 16 and Central 10.
The score at Half Time was Peacock 36 and Central 19.
The score at the end of the Third Quarter was Peacock 48 and Central 29.
The Final Score was Peacock 60 a d Central 41.
Top Scorers for Peacock
Devlyn McClung - 15 points
Hannah Miller - 14 points
Jessica Selensky- 11 points
Top Scorers for Central
Ava Nichols - 15 points
Molly McLean - 10 points
Addison Simpson - 9 points
Over at Vanier Collegiate it was a bit of a heavenly affair as the Vanier Spirits took on the Lumsden Angels in the other high school senior girls semi-final.
The Spirits won the game 68 - 57 over the Angels.
Quarter Scores
The First Quarter score was Vanier 6 and Lumsden 18.
The Second Quarter score was Vanier 36 and Lumsden 23 at Half Time.
The Third Quarter score was Vanier 52 and Lumsden 38.
The Final Score was Vanier 68 and Lumsden 57.
Top Scorers for Vanier
Waverly Demassi - 23 points
Rose Miko - 17 points
Ava Kindiak - 9 points
