There was no way they could have known at the time, but the eight teams in action on Thursday night during the Moose Jaw High School Athletic Association senior basketball semifinals were essentially playing a city championship game.
Less than 24 hours after the semifinals were over, the Saskatchewan Teacher’s Federation announced their next round of job action, forcing the outright cancellation of the boys and girls title games on Monday night.
As a result, the Vanier Spirits and Swift Current Ardens will be unofficial co-champions in the girls league, while the Central Cyclones and Peacock Toilers will share the title in the boys' loop.
Vanier took a 73-41 win over Central in the girls' semifinal at Vanier, while the Cyclones took a 120-29 win over the Vikings in the boys semifinal. The other contests were in Swift Current, where the Ardens continued their unbeaten season with an 86-37 win over Peacock and the Toilers won 94-81 over the Colts.
Vanier 73, Central 41
The Spirits took a bit of time to get rolling, but once their shots started to fall, things fell into place pretty quickly.
Vanier led 19-10 after the first quarter before building a 40-17 edge at the half and keeping the score around that 20-point lead for much of the rest of the game.
Seeing her troops come out and get the job done in an always-tough playoff environment was positive for Spirits coach Christa Lapointe.
“It’s been competitive, and every team has improved from start to finish, so as much as the rankings are the rankings, every game you need to take seriously,” she said. “This time of year teams come out strong and want to leave their best on the court, so you always have to step up no matter who you’re playing.”
The Spirits' defence was especially on point, holding Central to seven points in the second quarter and eight in the final 10 minutes.
“We always pride ourselves on defence, that’s something we always have to take care of and it worked out tonight,” Lapointe said. “They really played well together as a team and I’m really proud of them.”
Waverley Demassi led Vanier with 24 points, while Kate Waldenberger had 12 and Ireland Guillaume 10. Ellah Flanagan topped Central scorers with 12.
The Spirits were looking forward to a shot at Swift Current in the final, but will take the end result in stride.
“We’re co-champions,” Lapointe said. “It doesn’t take away from Vanier or Swift Current or Peacock or Central, to get to the finals is a big accomplishment itself, so it’s a good display of all the hard work the players and coaches put in.”
Central 120, Vanier 29
Once the Cyclones found their range, the points began to add up quickly.
After missing their first six shots, the Central built A 28-5 lead after the first quarter turned into a 64-15 lead at half, and things were all but academic from there.
“Those are tough games to play for both teams, but I was proud of the way we played,” said Cyclones coach Barry Seaborn. “Once we got the rust out, we played the way we usually play, we got running and were scoring and playing good defence and it worked out really well.”
Ben Ansell put up 28 points for Central while Chase Seaborn scored 25. Jared Mana scored 16 for Vanier.
While another match-up with Peacock would have been an interesting prospect, now it’s going to be another what-if in a season filled with them.
“Obviously we’re extremely disappointed for the kids, they worked so hard to get here,” Seaborn said. “To have that taken away at the last minute is pretty frustrating. Arguably, it’s the most exciting game of the year, and we’ve played each other tight all year so it would have been a very competitive and fun game.”
The attention now turns to regional playdowns during the Mar. 15 weekend, hopefully.
“Do we know if we’re actually going to play?” Seaborn asked. “There’s a lot of doubt right now, and we’re still practicing but we don’t know what’s happening so we’ll keep at it, And who knows, maybe we’ll end up seeing Peacock at Hoopla and we can play it two-for-one for the city championship, too.”
Peacock 94, Swift Current 81
A huge third quarter where Peacock outscored Swift Current 32-10 was the difference in the boys' semifinal in Swift Current after the Colts led 28-19 after the first quarter and 48-39 at half.
Makungu Mutabazi led the Toilers with 32 points while Jordan Selensky scored 17. Eli Seimens topped the Colts with 20 points, Makstr McIntyre had 11.
Swift Current 86, Peacock 37
The Ardens carried an unbeaten record into the girls' semifinal, and they looked the part, leading 18-9 after the first quarter and 38-19 at half.
Every player in the Ardens line-up scored, led by 15 points from Danica Jackson and 12 from Leah Sletten. Devlynn McClung topped the Toilers with 13 points, Taylor Craik had nine.
