Skip to content

Elecs win over Weyburn Eagles to claim Shoot For A Cure bronze medal

The Estevan Comprehensive School Elecs senior girls basketball team were happy with their win Saturday over the Weyburn Eagles but were even happier to raise money at Victor Elias Memorial Shoot For A Cure and awareness for community members.
Morgan
Morgan Fichter of the Elecs cuts around a Weyburn player to go to the hoop Saturday at the ECS gym.

The Estevan Comprehensive School Elecs senior girls basketball team were happy with their win Saturday over the Weyburn Eagles but were even happier to raise money at Victor Elias Memorial Shoot For A Cure and awareness for community members.

The good performance at their home tournament was the icing on the cake for the weekend and the preparation and fundraising leading into it.

“What I’m trying to do is teach my girls to pay it forward and every year they come away with not surprising me but really making me proud,” said Elecs coach Jessie Smoliak. 

This year’s recipient was Mackenzie Delaney, a four year old with a rare form of blood cancer and who attended the games and sat near the team.

“I don’t think they understand until they see the person they’re working hard for and taking all the donations for,” Smoliak said.

The players wrote names on helium balloons and released them at the opening ceremony from their tournament-opening game Friday against Balgonie Greenall.

Morgan Fichter scored 20 in the game against Weyburn, helping the Elecs also stifle the Eagles on the scoreboard after going down 36-25 at halftime.

“We started to close out on the shots better and we got in their face so they didn’t get open for shots,” said Fichter.

“We just decided to focus on our defence and stopping them there,” said Tatiana Dutka. “We needed to box out more to get the rebounds to stop them and that’s how we pulled out the win.”

The message at the half from the coaching staff was quite simple.

“I told them to play for team Mackenzie,” said Smoliak.  “I told them to remember whose name they wrote on the balloon before they released them yesterday and they need to play for each other.”

Smoliak also reminded them that it was the four seniors’ last home game.

Aftet the game it became emotional as the team honoured their manager for the last four years, Stacy Dutka, who is also a cancer survivor and the mother of senior guard Tatiana Dutka.  

“Stacy is, like I said, my inspiration,” Smoliak said. “She’s my hero because she, not only does things for the team, but she does things for others. She’s just an incredible person and a role model and I’m glad that I have her friendship and that she’s been a part of the team for the last four years. She’s been on this team for four years because of having her daughter on the team but she never once talked about having cancer or dealing with it.”

This year, the team gave her an original painting at a tribute Saturday.

“She’s just such an incredible person and we love her and appreciate her and she does so much behind the scenes,” said Smoliak. “But that’s her thing. Doing all the work behind the scenes and receiving no credit. That’s just the kind of person she is.”

Their first game was a cakewalk against an understaffed Balgonie Greenall Griffins team, 85-22. Fichter led the team with 18 points and Taylor Houx scored 16, as most of the starters got a bit of a rest in the game.

In their 61-53 loss to Moose Jaw Peacock Toilers, the Elecs got 20 points from Tatiana Dutka and 14 from Fichter.

Bronze is a good result given the high quality of teams at the event.

“It was a really important game between us and Moose Jaw Peacock,” Smoliak said. “Unfortunately we didn’t get the win. But that’s ok because we’re really hoping to see them again either at regionals or at Hoopla.” 

“This tournament for me means a lot because my mom is a cancer survivor herself and my coach has been a really big influence on me in my life and I want to play hard for her and her father who passed away last year,” said Tatiana Dutka. “This tournament I think we did pretty good.”