The Vanier Spirits and Central Cyclones took decidedly different paths to their respective Moose Jaw high school junior basketball league city championships on Mar. 10.
For the Spirits, it was a matter just getting hot at the right time, as they rallied from finishing in third place in the regular season with a pair of playoff upsets, including a 51-39 victory over Central in the girls gold medal game.
For the Cyclones, it was the continuation of a steamroller campaign that saw a pair of losses at the start of the year followed by a season-long winning streak that culminated with a 91-45 victory over the Peacock Toilers in the boys title match-up.
Vanier got off to exactly the start they were hoping for in the girls' final at Central, roaring out to a 21-10 lead in the first quarter and holding a 10-point lead at the half. The Spirits were able to maintain that edge through the remainder of the game to close out their gold-medal-winning campaign.
Sadie Hughes led Vanier with 16 points, while Cadey Olson had a 15-point effort. Brooklyn Watterson led Central with 13 points.
The Cyclones didn’t waste much time getting things going in the boys final, as a 27-13 lead after the first quarter set the standard and a 53-26 lead at the half made the result all but academic. Central extended their edge to 69-37 through three quarters and simply ran out the clock in the final 10 minutes.
Gerrittt Gulutzan led Central and all scorers with 20 points, while Rylan Schaffer scored 18 to go along with 14 from Owen Kosior and 10 from Sam Deckman.
Mukungu Mutabazi was Peacock’s leading scorer with 12 points.
