Yorkdale Central Public School hosted a six-team tournament at the end of January, said Jason Boyda, head coach of the girls team.
Teams that took place in the first-ever Royal Invitational Basketball Tournament were Yorkdale, Jack MacKenzie School from Regina, Melville Comprehensive School, Langenburg, and two teams from Dauphin Middle School.
The format for the tournament had teams placed into two pools consisting of a round robin. The first place team from each pool after the round robin would then battle it out for first place, while teams that finished second in their pool would play for third place.
The last two teams in each pool would then meet for the fifth place.
"Both Yorkdale and Jack Mackenzie had no problem finishing first in their respective pools as Yorkdale defeated Melville 40-15 and Dauphin-2, 55-7," explained Boyda following the tournament.
Jack Mackenzie defeated Langenburg 53-12 and Dauphin-1, 55-18.
Melville defeated Dauphin-2 earning second place in pool A and Dauphin-1 defeated Langenburg to place second.
While Dauphin-2 finished third in pool A and Langenburg finished third in pool B.
Langenburg defeated Dauphin-2 in the fifth place game. Morgan Yont of Langenburg was selected as the player of the game for Langenburg. In the third place game, Melville defeated Dauphin-1 and Radiance Harris was selected as the player of the game.
"The championship game featured the two heavyweights of the tournament," says Boyda.
It was the Jack MacKenzie Coyotes vs. the Yorkdale Royals.
Boyda said the final turned out to be everything they had hoped for.
"Anytime one hosts a tournament you always hope the top two teams square off and the game is exciting and comes down to the final buzzer. Well this was the case in Yorkdale."
He said both teams really played like they really wanted it bad.
"Both teams did not disappoint, as it was an exciting game that came down to the wire. Right from the opening tipoff to the last buzzer the game was played by both teams in a fast paced, high tempo setting."
Boyda even compared the intensity to that of a boxing match.
"The first half resembled two boxers standing toe to toe exchanging punches but instead of exchanging punches the teams exchanged baskets."
As the game began, the visiting Coyotes jumped out to an early 10-6 lead in the first quarter but the Royals were able to turn the tables mid way through the second quarter and took a 16-14 lead.
However, the visitors climbed back into the lead just before the halftime break, taking a 22-18 lead into the dressing rooms. Boyda noted that the teams cooled off in the second half as it became more of a defensive battle.
"(They) were tied 24-24 towards the end of the third quarter and to start the fourth they each exchanged baskets as it went back and forth," he told the paper.
"The turning point in the game, unfortunately for the Royals, was when their post player fouled out which the Coyotes were able to take an advantage in the height department."
With a minute to go, the Royals were down by two and missed a five-foot shoot that rimed out. Mackenzie took advantage of this and went down the court to score a basket, which gave them a four-point lead. With less then 10 seconds left the Royals were shooting foul shoots and made their first shoot to narrow the score to 33-29 but missed on their second shoot and Coyotes were able to grab the rebound and run out the clock. Jessica Lutz of Yorkdale was the leading score for the Royals earning her the Player of the Game.
