The Peacock Toilers have stood like an iron colossus over the Moose Jaw high school girls basketball league for almost a full decade at this point.
They’ll look to officially make it 10 years straight when they take the court in the city championship this coming Tuesday against the Central Cyclones.
The Toilers advanced to the gold medal game with an 80-50 win over the Vanier Spirits in their semifinal on Tuesday night, while the Cyclones picked up a 61-43 win over the Briercrest Christian Academy Cougars to book their spot in the final, set for 6:20 p.m. on Tuesday at Sask Polytech.
“We got the result we wanted, so we’re excited for the next two weeks of basketball,” said Toilers coach Penny Maelde. “Everybody turns it up during playoffs, everyone knows they’re big games and they want to win. Vanier had a great game, they played hard and never gave up.”
In the end, it was the Toilers’ overall depth that proved to be the difference, as it did much of the way through their perfect 7-0 regular season campaign.
Five players hit double digits in scoring in the semifinal, as Anna Maelde led all scorers with 19 points, Caitlyn Johnson scored 13, Ella Muchowski and Sadie Ward 11 each, and Sydney Measner 10.
That paved the way for a 32-8 lead after the first quarter and 47-22 edge at the half.
Feona Tolentino led Vanier with 14 points, Alex Marak and Jewellyn McDonald picked up 11 each.
Even with their success in Moose Jaw this season, the Toilers aren’t about to relax going into the final – Sask Polytech has long had a history of turning easy wins into close battles, making the need for a good game at the best time all but imperative.
“I think at this time of year everyone had gotten better,” coach Maelde said. “So to win anything, you’re going to have to be playing your best ball and ultimately that’s what we’re wanting to do every game, keep up with the execution and playing out best.”
The Cyclones found themselves in low-scoring battle through the first half and into the third quarter against Briercrest Christian, holding a 22-20 lead early after the break. Both teams started hitting shots as time went, with Central making the most of their home-gym familiarity to pull away.
Emily Blackmore and Alexa Watterson had 15 points each for the Cyclones, Nylah Seaborn added 12.
Emma Carter put up 17 points for the Cougars, Lily Matthies recorded 12.
