With only two Grade 10s – and only one of those players having played with the team last year – the Estevan Comprehensive School’s junior girls basketball team is likely going to be a work in progress for the first month of the year.
Their 43-38 loss to Yorkton in the bronze medal game aside, the Elecs played well in their first tournament of the year at the ECS gym.
“I switched in some of my new recruits versus my starters and tried to get some extra play with them,” said Elecs coach Kevin Kobitz, whose team led 14-6 after the first quarter and 21-17 at the half. “I tried to get more girls involved. I knew this was going to be a tight game and ... came back to the point where I had to get my starters into the second half but we just couldn’t keep momentum.”
The Elecs outside shots weren’t falling in the second half and the energy became less and less for the fourth game of the tournament than there may have been earlier in the weekend. Kishi Rioferio led the team with 14 points and Renee Stephany chipped in 10 in the bronze game.
The Elecs lost the opening game of the tournament 53-42 to Oxbow, which surprised Kobitz.
“I anticipated us winning that game,” said Kobitz. “I’ve never lost to Oxbow in the past, which threw me for a loop.”
One of the Oxbow players improved a lot over the course of the offseason, and Kobitz took the blame for it.
“I wasn’t prepared… and I didn’t prepare my team well enough early in the game to either trap her or what I did was put a girl on her to not let her catch the ball. It was a little too late to catch back up on points.”
The Elecs beat Weyburn 40-31 in their second game of the weekend.
The team’s inexperience will get better as the year goes on.
“I have one returning girl, period in Grade 10,” Kobitz said. “The other girl is new to the team and I have four club girls that worked with me last year in Grade 9 which help with our team. It’s early in the year and I expect to get better.”
Kobitz said the Elecs will be working on passing and catching, which he didn’t feel was at an acceptable.
“I was happy overall with this game. It was the best of our tournament,” he said. “We just couldn’t finish strong. A few little mistakes at the end.”
The team will go to Regina on the weekend for another tournament.
“It’ll be a hard tournament and hard games,” he said. “I’m going to at least have a good rotation and introduce some of my girls to game play.”
