In the Regina city playoffs: …………………………………………………… In the quarterfinals, the Sheldon-Williams Spartans dusted the Luther Lions 75-51 as Madeline Docherty scored 28. Kaylee Halvorson led the Lions with 28. The Lions also included Jordyn Halvorson. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Campbell Tartans dumped the 4th-seeded Michael A. Riffel Royals 81-74 as Laura Hudson scored 25 and Saheba Bajwa 12. Danni Best led the Royals with 17. Madison Brown added 15. The Royals (coached by Garth Walker) also included Camille Mosiondz, Chris Warnecke, Brook Walker, Alyssia Kajati. …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Balfour Redmen whipped the 8th-seeded Thom Trojans 79-55 as Taylor Pelletier scored 22. Hannah Belete led the Trojans with 16. The Trojans also included Sarah Wishira, Breanne Leib. …………………………………………………… In the last quarterfinal, the Winston Knoll Wolverines clocked the Dr. Martin LeBoldus Golden Suns 75-47 as Becky McKinnon scored 26. Megan Lane led the Golden Suns with 17. The Golden Suns also included Megan Wilson, Kim Robinson, Megan Deck. …………………………………………………… In the semis, the Balfour Redmen blasted the Campbell Tartans 85-59 as Kabree Howard scored 26. Anokhi Patel led the Tartans with 18. …………………………………………………… In the other semi, the Sheldon-Williams Spartans dispatched the Winston Knoll Wolverines 70-62 as Madeline Docherty scored 22. …………………………………………………… In the final, the Balfour Redmen clubbed the Sheldon-Williams Spartans 80-61 as Taylor Pelletier scored 29, Lisa Mickler 12 and MacKenzie Taylor 13. Lexie Petrovitch paced the Spartans with 18. Alyssa Pot added 16 and Madeline Docherty 13.
In the provincial quarterfinals, the Saskatoon Holy Cross Crusaders stomped the Regina Campbell Tartans 79-50 as Lindsey Knibbs scored 22 and Kelsey Trulsrud 19. Laura Hudson led the Tartans with 15. Anokhi Patel added 10. Holy Cross point guard said the Crusaders were determined to uphold Saskatoon honor after 12 straight Hoopla quarterfinal games in which Regina teams beat squads from the north. “I’ve watched Holy Cross play since I was little,” 5-4 point guard Knibbs told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. “Watching them perpetually lose to Regina gave this team extra (incentive) to do it for our alumni and do it for ourselves, too.” Knibbs scored 15 in the first half. Holy Cross, ripped off an 18-4 run midway through the opening quarter and led 47-24 at halftime. “She’s what you want in a point guard,” Harbidge said. “She controls the ball, sees the floor, and like you saw tonight, she can score.” The Tartans (coached by Claire Dore) also included Sacha Bajwa, Jaclynn Lewis, Anokhi Patel, Kelsey Stewart, Jasmine Lothian.
The Saskatoon Walter Murray Saints nipped the Regina Sheldon Williams Spartans 47-44 as Mariah Van’t Hof scored 24 and Trisha Carriere 14. Madeline Docherty led the Spartans with 15. Alexandra Petrovitch added 12. The Spartans (coached by Laura Hunko) also included Hannah Crease-MacLean, Jessica Knaus, Alyssa Pot.
The top-seeded Regina city champion Balfour Redmen clipped the Saskatoon fourth seed Marion Graham Falcons 62-50 as Taylor Pelletier scored 22 and Nicole Neithercut 12. Pelletier scored 16 of the Redmen’s first 29 points. “We knew if we didn’t win this game, we wouldn’t be able to make it to the final, so we came here to win and we were determined,” Pelletier told the Regina Leader-Post. Pelletier set the tone Thursday by scoring the Redmen’s first five points. She nailed a three-pointer on the first possession of the game. “That felt pretty good,” she said. “Then I felt my shot and I could just keep going from there.” Kelsey Bates led the Falcons with 22. Marilyn McNally added 10. The Falcons (coached by Sheryl Ens) also included Taylor Hanson, Taelor Fredrickson, Sydney Harms, Gilliam Mitchell, Alissa McDonald, Tenneya Martin, Laura Campbell, Kristi Bachiu, Madison Josephson, Alyssa McIntyre.
In the last quarterfinal, the third Regina seed Winston Knoll Wolverines defeated the Saskatoon Aden Bowman Bears 70-62. Riley Humbert led the Bears with 24. The Bears (coached by Jodi Smith-Windsor) also included Karlee Boldt, Riley Daku, Amy Sheppard, Mika Rathwell, Erin Bader, Sarah Striesel, Nika Shutick, Tanys Byrns, Erin MacDonald, Payton Pederson, Heidi Schwinghammer, Madeline Humbert.
In the semis, the Saskatoon Holy Cross Crusaders stomped the Saskatoon Walter Murray Marauders 94-60 as Marissa Lindquist scored 24 and Kelsey Trulsrud 16. Mariah Van’t Hof led the Saints with 18. Danica Cox added 14 and Trisha Carriere 8. The Marauders built an early nine-point lead but the Crusaders retained their poise and built a 51-30 lead at the half. “For us, it feels pretty good,” said Crusaders forward Kelsey Trulsrud, who scored 13. “We just want to win it so we can make history. We were trying to play our best as a team, pushing as hard as we could. The (90) points didn’t really matter to us. We just pushed it as hard as we could. We knew they (Marauders) were going to get up on us, but we knew we could find the strength within us and work as a team to just push it harder out there and get a lead.” Holy Cross coach Kevin Harbidge was elated that a Saskatoon team had made the final for the first time since 2005. “It’s wonderful. It’s where we wanted to be. We wanted to get to the final. We’re there now. It’s just a matter of if we can finish it. (The key) is just intensity. We’ve been down 15 points to Balfour at one time. We came back and led by eight, so I’m never really worried when we’re down by nine or 10 or something like that because we’re very resilient. We’re very intense. We go through spells where we don’t score, we make mistakes and play a little out of control — but we seem to play well when we play a little out of control.” Marauders coach Ali Fairbrother said her troops had “a half decent start, then our two best players (Mariah Van’t Hof and Trisha Carriere) got into foul trouble. We actually did quite well without them, but Holy Cross was just a better team. In league this year, we came to play, battled hard and a lot of our shots were falling and we had a close game with them. Tonight, they upped the pressure and we didn’t handle their pressure very well. They’re a really good team. (Trulsrud), even though she didn’t play as well for them tonight, is huge. She’s a great rebounder. They get lots of second and third chances. Too many weapons overall.” Marauders guard Trisha Carriere said “it’s very disappointing. Yeah, definitely, we felt we had a chance and just didn’t play our best game. There’s nothing really we can do about it.”
In the other semi, the Regina Winston Knoll Wolverines defeated the top-seeded Regina Balfour Redmen 76-68 as Katie Eckert scored 19, Caitlin Brock 17, Desarae Hogberg 16 and Becky McKinnon 14. McKenzie Taylor paced Balfour with 23. Kabree Howard added 13. Defending champ Winston Knoll held off a late surge by the top-seeded Redmen. “That’s one heck of a team,” Knoll coach Jeremy Gaboury said of Balfour, which came within three points with 3:41 left and again closed the gap to four in the final minute. “They’ve played for a long time, since they were toddlers, and it really shows. It was everything both teams had. You couldn’t have asked for a better game. It was a 100 per cent effort from both teams and it was exciting.” Caitlin Brock said “it’s great to be back (in the provincial final). We showed, by this game, that we earned it. We came in as the underdogs and it was great. We played great defence the whole game and it showed.” Gaboury told the Regina Leader-Post that “it’s a great feeling, with this team, the amount of effort they put in. The city playoff run was kind of disappointing, but this kind of makes it better. We’ve got one more step and that’s to play Holy Cross and keep the provincial title in Regina. This is a good feeling, but we have one more step. We don’t want to be just happy with this. We have one more thing to do: our goal is to repeat as provincial champions.”
In the bronze medal match, the Regina Balfour Redmen stomped the Saskatoon Walter Murray Saints 80-56 as MacKenzie Taylor scored 16 and Taylor Pelletier 15. Trisha Carriere led the Saints with 23. Danica Cox added 15. The Saints (coached by Ali Fairbrother) also included Alyssa Van’t Hof, Mariah Van’t Hof, Ryley Schmidt, Emily Hooge, Alex Wojcichowsky, Alyssa Cline, Taylor Gilliland, Elizabeth Hill, Tessa McKibben, Tina Wilyman, Katherine Federoff.
In the final, the Saskatoon Holy Cross Crusaders defeated the Regina Winston Knoll Wolverines 77-71 to capture their first provincial title as Kelsey Trulsrud scored 20 and Katie Hillis 18. Katie Eckert and Caitlin Brock each scored 16 to pace the Wolverines. Holy Cross completed a boys/girls double. “I don’t think I expected this much,” said coach Kevin Harbidge, whose team went 34-1 during their run to the title, told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. “We can’t do anything more than what we did this year.” Harbidge talked to his captains prior to this season about platooning. That tack keyed the title. “You battle hard for five minutes,” said Winston Knoll coach Jeremy Gaboury, “then 10 fresh new legs come running at you. You do your best against them, then 10 more legs, fresh off the bench . . . it’s something you don’t see a lot at this level, and congrats to them for developing their players to have that (depth). That’s possibly a goal of mine in the future; I’d love to be able to do that someday, just roll 10 girls out. It sure wears you down.” Holy Cross ripped off a 22-4 Holy Cross run in the third quarter to erase a 45-33 deficit. The team’s second line whittled Knoll’s lead from 12 to three points with a 9-0 spurt midway through the quarter. Then the starters took over and grabbed a 55-51 lead heading into the final quarter. “Our second line really brought it to them,” said senior Katie Hillis. “Our first line was struggling a little bit, and our second line picked it up for us, then we just followed their intensity. Five on, five off is a really good way to play — it keeps us fresh and ready to play. You get a break, then go back on and show them what we’ve got.” A see-saw final quarter saw the game tied at 71 going into the final minute. Grade 11 forward Kelsey Trulsrud hit a field goal and, with 29 seconds to play, two high-pressure foul shots that stretched the lead to four. Grade 10 point guard Lindsey Knibbs iced the game with a pair of free throws with 18 seconds on the clock. Harbidge said that, in the past, he’s told his charges about the two things he hates most about coaching. “One, is making cuts. It’s a terrible thing. The second thing is talking to a team when you’ve lost a game that counts at the end of the year. I don’t have to do that this year.” Hillis said “we made history, and it feels great.” Wolverines post Dorianne Lozinski told the Regina Leader-Post that “I’m so proud of every person on our team.” Guard Caitlin Brock added that “we’re still happy with our season. Gold would have been great, but we can’t hang our heads over silver. We’ve got good chemistry on this team on and off the court. It was great to play with them. It was just a fun season.” Winston Knoll led 45-33 in the third quarter before Holy Cross, the top seed from Saskatoon, went on a 28-8 run. “The pressure got to us,” Wolverines coach Jeremy Gaboury said. The Wolverines were able to battle back after Holy Cross assumed a pair of eight-point leads in the fourth quarter. They tied the game at 71-71 when Lozinski scored with 1:16 remaining, but Kelsey Trulsrud responded by scoring the winning basket with 47.6 seconds left to help Holy Cross capture its first-ever provincial 5A girls title. “We’ve made history, and it feels great,” Katie Hillis said. Holy Cross finished with a 34-1 record.
The bronze medalist Regina Balfour Redmen: Taylor Pelletier; Nicole Neithercut; McKenzie Taylor; Kabree Howard; Petra Andrews; Lisa Mickler; Mackenzie Taylor; Tessa Zahorski; Kasha Wallace; Katelyn Taypotat; Alexa Salberg; Nicole Neithercut; Madison Kot; Kailey Boan; coach Christin Dickenson; coach Wendy Bileski; assistant D Yaskowich
The silver medalist Regina Winston Knoll Wolverines: Katie Eckert; Caitlin Brock; Desarae Hogberg; Becky McKinnon; Dorianne Lozinski; Kaitlyn H; Amy E; Shalyn P; Danika V; Hallie K; Kelsey P; Sara K; coach Jeremy Gaboury; assistant Gord Selinger
The gold medalist Saskatoon Holy Cross Crusaders: Lindsay Knibbs; Kelsey Trulsrud; Marissa Lindquist; Katie Hillis; Katherine Forrester; Nicole Sawa; Kathryn Spehar; Tegan Harbridge; Mega Lindquist; Erica Sherven; Alison Haye; Siobhan Nichol; Jenna Kobiela; coach Kevin Harbidge; assistant Michelle Keene