The Estevan Comprehensive School student body has something to cheer about heading into the holiday break with the ECS senior girls basketball team coming off a big win on the weekend.
The team is coming off a high, taking championship honours at a tournament in Swift Current, besting squads from Yorkton, Swift Current and Moose Jaw and their way to an undefeated tournament record.
The championship game saw the Elecs down Moose Jaw Central 56-53. Kristen Skjonsby and Tess Lindquist, who posted 24 points and 18 points, respectively, led the team in the final game.
This victory is hot on the heels of a stand-up showing the weekend prior, where the Elecs won the B final in Caronport with a 64-59 victory over their rival Weyburn Eagles in the last game.
Coach Jessie Smoliak said the team is young this year, but whatever they lack in experience they make up for in an unselfish eagerness to get the job done.
“They played really well together as a team,” Smoliak said about he weekend performance. “They passed really well together. The weak side was always open because the girls had quick passes, and they worked the ball around on offence.”
In their first game on Friday night against Yorkton Regional, the girls came away with a 49-43 win. Skjonsby had 20 points and six assists. Lindquist posted eight points and was a beast in the paint, recording double digit totals in both offensive and defensive rebounds.
Saturday saw the team square off against Swift Current Comprehensive, who they toppled 61-56. In the victory that propelled them to the A final, Skjonsby scored 18 points with nine defensive rebounds, and Lindquist had 14 points and nine defensive rebounds. Kourtney Kobitz posted 10 points, while Macy Earl had eight points, four assists and 10 defensive rebounds.
“We knew in the semi finals against Swift Current we had to be on the boards. We had to rebound, and we did. We out rebounded that team,” said Smoliak, who added the points the team scored off the bench were vital for the team over the weekend.
The senior team this year is full of youth and includes four Grade 9 students. The coach hopes that finding some early success this season will mean big gains for the psyche of the team going forward.
“This win really just shows the girls that we can do it against competitive teams,” she said, noting the teams they played in the team compete in the 5A or 4A category, above where the Elecs play in 3A. “It was a competitive tournament, which was great. It is definitely a step up from elementary basketball. They’re not selfish at all. They work really well together and support each other on the court and off the court.”
With this success the girls are starting to set their sights on their future in 2015, which includes qualifying for provincials, HOOPLA, and snapping a multi-decades-long drought in the MacLeod Series.
“We want to take the MacLeod Series this year. I know the girls are very focused to win the MacLeod Series on our half and the boys are too,” said Smoliak.
A basketball rivalry dating back 80 years, the MacLeod Series manifests itself each winter between the ECS senior boys and girls teams squaring off against their Weyburn Eagle counterparts. Smoliak said the teams are looking forward to this year’s four-game match in February that will consist of a home-and-home series for both the boys and girls teams.
After winning the series consecutively for a number of decades, ECS has been in a 31-year victory drought. They hope to put an end to it in 2015.
The series starts Feb. 4 with the girls and boys in Weyburn and will be followed up with games at ECS the next week.
Before that, the senior girls squad will head to a tournament in Weyburn on Jan. 9 and 10.
