In the opening round: …………………………………………………… The Fillmore Falcons defeated the Lake Lenore Lancers 86-51. Lindsay Foy led Lake Lenore with 16. …………………………………………………… The Southey Screaming Eagles crushed the Herbert Laurels 67-31. …………………………………………………… The Kenaston Kodiaks whipped the Edam Royals 94-6. …………………………………………………… The Frontier Raiders nipped Denzil 73-70. …………………………………………………… The Bengough Tigers crushed the Radville Rebels 55-31 as Kimberly Craven scored 28. Kelsi Verot led Radville with 8. …………………………………………………… The Norquay Nikes thumped the Raymore Rebels 55-42 as Jodi Krushkowski scored 27. …………………………………………………… The Eatonia Spartans stomped the Middle Lake Three Lakes Avengers 72-24 as Kali Nunweiler scored 15. Jenna Struck led Middle Lake with 14. …………………………………………………… The Hepburn Hawks defeated the Paradise Hill Panthers 45-29 as Tessa Tkachuk and Rebecca Anderson each scored 15. Deanna Burgess led Paradise Hill with 10.
In the quarterfinals, the Fillmore Falcons thumped the Southey Screaming Eagles 82-57. The Eagles, coached by Dean Andrews, were built from a scratch five years earlier, when a core group, Jessica Kostiuk, Mieka Boehmer, Jenna Schaffer, Reena Thurmeier and Shanda Solomon were in grade seven. “We were clueless,” said Thurmeier. They lost by as many as 75 in the earlier years. Andrews was also a basketball rookie. He took a class at the University of Saskatchewan and then built a team. “I remember my point guard, it was her first or second game, going the wrong way after we’d won a jump ball at centre court, and shooting on her own basket,” Andrews said. “I remember a game in their Grade 8 season. We’re down one point with three seconds left; we have to go the length of the court. We have one girl standing under the basket. We run the play perfectly. She has an open shot. She misses by about eight feet.” Thurmeir says Andrews “worked our butts off. But there isn’t a coach I’d rather have. Coming off the floor sweating, feeling like I’m about to fall dead, I love that feeling.” Andrews also watched Fillmore, another young program. The Falcons also struggled in the early years, said coach Greg Lendvay. “It was ugly at the start. In our first game we lost 54-4. One of our girls hit a basket well after the buzzer, but the refs were going ‘Count it! Count it!” The quarterfinal was tougher than the 25-point margin indicated. “The last two years it was pretty much game over after 10 minutes,” said Lendvay. “Not that they ever gave up, but they knew they were out of it. This time, we went up 18-4 and they battled back. Two years ago, it would have been a blowout. This time, I think they got it back to eight (points). Dean is doing good things there. That’s a tough, aggressive team; they played with heart. They left it all on the floor.” Said Andrews: “I’ll coach other teams, but not another group like this. This was my first basketball team. This was special. When you’ve known them as 12-year-old girls, and now, to see them walk out the door when they’re 18 . . . (Saturday night) I was sitting with my fiancee (Cindy) and telling her how the whole thing had wrapped up, how the girls were crying, even some of the mothers were crying. There was quite a puddle. When you see them breaking down, you understand how much it’s meant to them.”
The Kenaston Kodiaks crushed the Frontier Raiders 68-35.
The Bengough Tigers defeated the Norquay Nikes 69-35 as Kimberly Craven scored 30. Jodi Krushkowski led Norquay with 15.
In the last quarterfinal, the Eatonia Spartans dumped the Hepburn Hawks 80-36 as Megan Specht and Kristy Somerville each notched 14. Tessa Tkachuk led Hepburn with 22.
In the semis, the Fillmore Falcons whipped the Kenaston Kodiaks 76-55 as Jessie Elias scored 21 and Sarah Leguee 21. Jenna Lynne Zdunich led Kenaston with 28. Jenn Prpich led Kenaston with 19. Fillmore led 46-28 at the half.
In the other semi, the Bengough Tigers defeated the Eatonia Spartans 50-38 as Kimberly Craven scored 22 and Genelle Giblet 17. Miranda Douglas led Eatonia with 14. Kristy Somerville added 9.
In the bronze medal match, the Eatonia Spartans defeated the Kenaston Kodiaks 49-33 as Miranda Douglas scored 17 and Kristy Sommerville 13. Jenna Lynne Zdunich paced Kenaston with 9. Stefanie Kerpan added 6. Kenaston led 21-20 at the half.
In the final, the Fillmore Falcons crushed the Bengough Tigers 69-29 as Sarah Leguee scored 28 and Jessie Elias 23. Kimberly Craven led Bengough with 15. Megan Warken added 5. Fillmore led 42-22 at the half. “We broke their press and made them pay,” Elias told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. “We had an amazing start.”
The bronze medalist Eatonia Spartans: Miranda Douglas; Kristy Somerville; Kali Nunweiler; Megan Specht;
The silver medalist Bengough Tigers: Kimberly Craven; Genelle Giblet; Megan Warken; coach Jim Craven
The gold medalist Fillmore Falcons: Jessie Elias; Sarah Leguee; Kalida Kennedy; Lindsay Foy; coach Greg Lendvoy