With students across Horizon School Division on winter break this week, basketball players from those schools are enjoying a quick break before returning to the hardwood next week for league championship games.
The season, which started in December is on its final legs before playoffs begin, with teams looking for bragging rights.
Senior Girls
South West League
The senior girls had just a single league this season, with Lanigan, Humboldt, Imperial and Watrous taking part.
After 11 games, Lanigan came out as the top seed and will play host to the league championship game thanks to a record of 5-1.
It was a dominant season for Lanigan who outscored their opponents by 111 points, winning their five games by an average of more than 24 points per game.
Their lone loss of the season came against Humboldt, who claimed the second seed thanks to a 4-1 record.
Humboldt picked up a 44-33 win over Lanigan on Feb. 7, but lost the season series to their highway 20 rivals, thanks to a 56-23 loss on Jan. 16.
Humboldt heads into the contest with the momentum, thanks to their win just a few weeks ago.
The championship final sets up to be a tightly contested affair with the two teams with the teams splitting the season series. Humboldt does hold the edge as their margin of victory is nearly 10 points per game higher than Lanigan’s.
While those two will be competing for the title, Imperial and Watrous are left on the outside looking in as their records of 2-3 and 0-6 respectively were not good enough to make the championship final.
Senior Boys
North West League
The senior boys North West League featured four teams from three different schools with Lanigan Blue, Lanigan Yellow, Viscount, and Humboldt all in action.
After 11 contests, Lanigan Blue emerged as the regular season’s top team thanks to a 5-0 record.
Lanigan Blue rolled through the season going undefeated, and outscoring their opponents by 154 points, an average of nearly 31 points per game.
In the finals, Lanigan Blue will meet Viscount, who compiled a record of 4-1, with their lone loss being an 81-44 setback against Lanigan Blue on Dec. 21.
Viscount heads into the final with a point differential of +31, with the Vikings’ margin of victory being just over 13 points.
Meanwhile, as those two teams focus on the championship Humboldt and Lanigan Yellow are left on the outside looking in thanks to records of 2-4 and 0-5 respectively.
East League
The senior boys East League also features four teams as Wynyard, Kawacatoose, LeRoy, and Foam Lake went head-to-head with the regular season crowd on the line.
With Kawacatoose still holding as many as three games left to play, the top seed from the regular season is still undecided.
Currently Wynyard holds down the top spot with a record of 4-2, while Kawacatoose sits second at 2-1.
If Kawacatoose can pick up wins over LeRoy twice, and Foam Lake then they would leapfrog Wynyard for top spot and home court advantage in the league final.
If they falter and lose once they would tie Wynyard but would still get home court advantage thanks to a head-to-head record of 1-1, with their margin of victory being larger than Wynyard’s.
If they lose twice, Wynyard wins the regular season title.
Meanwhile, those contests between LeRoy (2-2) and Kawacatoose (2-1) will decide which of the two teams will join Wynyard in the league final.
Foam Lake is currently the only team eliminated as their 1-4 record is not good enough to have a shot at the league final.
South League
The senior boys South League featured just three teams with Raymore, Strasbourg, and Imperial all in action.
Raymore emerged from the shortlist as the regular season victor thanks to a 3-0 record as they rolled through the season outscoring their opponents by an average of 52 points per game.
Meeting Raymore in the league final will be Strasbourg, who compiled a record of 2-2, with both of their losses coming against Raymore.
Strasbourg will be in tough in the final as they have yet to beat Raymore this season and have lost both games thus far by a combined score of 134-51.
Imperial meanwhile will have to watch from the sidelines as their 0-3 record was not good enough to get into the league final.
Junior Girls
North West League
While the senior league featured no more than four teams, the juniors are much larger, including the five team junior girls North West League, which features St. Brieux “A”, Middle Lake, Wakaw, Cudworth, and Lake Lenore.
After 20 contests St. Brieux “A” emerged as the regular season champions after compiling a record of 8-0.
St. Brieux rolled through the competition with just one game being decided by ten points or less, as they outscored their opponents by an average of 40 points per game.
Meeting St. Brieux in the final will be Middle Lake who managed a record of 6-2 on the season, with both losses coming against St. Brieux.
Middle Lake’s two losses to St. Brieux aside, where they were beaten 53-49 on Jan. 29 and 61-27 on Dec. 1, it was an excellent season for the club as they won six times, outscoring the opposition 313-97 in the process.
Unfortunately those two losses will be hanging over their heads when they visit St. Brieux in the league final.
Meanwhile, the trio of Wakaw, Cudworth and Lake Lenore will be watching the league final from the sidelines after records of 2-6 for each team was not good enough to get into the final.
Central League
The busiest of the junior girls leagues came in the Central League where six teams competed for a shot at the finals, including St. Brieux “B”, Annaheim, St. Dominic, Humboldt Public, St. Augustine, and Watrous High.
After 15 league games, the regular season crowd needed to be decided by a tiebreaker as St. Brieux “B” and Annaheim each compiled records of 4-1.
St. Brieux was given the top seed after the round robin as their 40-34 win on Feb. 7 gave them the tiebreaker.
It was a solid season for both St. Brieux and Annaheim who combined to outscore their opponents by 157 points.
Finishing just a single game behind those two was St. Dominic, whose 3-2 record gave them the third seed.
Finishing just behind their Humboldt rivals were Humboldt Public, whose 2-3 record was good enough for fourth place and the final spot in the playoffs.
While those four teams moved on to the semi-finals the pair of St. Augustine (1-4) and Watrous High (1-4) where forced to watch from the outside as they were unable to qualify for the semi-finals.
In the semis, both of the top seeds emerged victorious with Annaheim beating St. Dominic 63-38, and St. Brieux rolling passed Humboldt Public 54-20, setting up a final between the top two seeds.
South East League
The smallest of the leagues came in the junior girls South East League, with just two teams in action including Foam Lake and Wynyard Elementary.
Foam Lake emerged as the league champions as they picked up wins of 44-31 on Dec. 18 and 46-16 on Jan. 18, giving them the title and Wynyard Elementary second place.
Junior Boys
North West League
The junior boys North West League featured teams from five different schools including St. Brieux, Annaheim, Bellevue, Lake Lenore and Wakaw.
After 20 contests between the five teams, St. Brieux came away with the regular season crown thanks to a record of 8-0.
St. Brieux rolled through the season, winning by no fewer than two points in any contest, while averaging a margin of victory of 38 points per game.
Finishing directly behind St. Brieux in the league standings was Annaheim, who compiled a record of 6-2, with their only losses coming from St. Brieux.
In their six wins Middle Lake outscored the opposition 370-157, an average of just over 35 points per game.
The trio of Bellevue, Lake Lenore, and Wakaw all failed to reach the final as their respective records of 3-5, 2-6, and 1-7 were only good enough for third, fourth, and fifth in the league.
Central League
The junior boys Central League was the largest of the four junior boys’ leagues with six teams in action including Middle Lake, St. Augustine Eights, St. Dominic “A”, Humboldt Public, St. Dominic “B”, and St. Augustine Sevens.
After 15 games, Middle Lake emerged as the league’s top regular season team thanks to a record of 5-0.
Middle Lake made it look relatively easy this season as they set league highs in points for and points against, winning their five games by no less than 15 points, and by an average of more than 22 points per game.
Finishing one spot behind Middle Lake was St. Augustine Eights, who finished the regular season with a 4-1 record.
Aside from an opening game 48-32 loss to Middle Lake, St. Augustine Eights enjoyed an excellent season winning all four of their games by double digits, with an average margin of victory of nearly 22 points per game.
St. Dominic “A” claimed the league’s third seed with a 3-2 record, with their only losses coming against Middle Lake, 50-31 on Jan. 22, and to St. Augustine Eights, 43-32 on Jan. 29.
Despite managing to finish just one game above .500, St. Dominic “A” enjoyed a solid season finishing with a point differential of +37.
Claiming the final of the four available semi-final spots was Humboldt Public who finished with a 2-3 record.
It was an up and down season for Humboldt Public who rotated wins and losses throughout the season.
It was an interesting season for Humboldt Public, whose wins came by 10 and 14, while their losses were by 25, 29, and 35.
Finishing outside of the top four and unable to advance to the playoffs were St. Dominic “B” and St. Augustine Sevens, whose records of 1-4 and 0-5 were not good enough.
The top seeds reigned supreme in the semi-finals, with both teams holding home court as Middle Lake knocked off Humboldt Public 55-33 and St. Augustine Eights beat St. Dominic “A” 39-25.
With the wins those two teams will meet in the league final.
South West League
One of the smallest of the junior boys league came in the South West League where only three teams including Watrous High, Lanigan Elementary, and Strasbourg were competing.
After eight contests Watrous High emerged as the regular season, and league champion thanks to a perfect 6-0 record.
Watrous rolled through the season allowing just under 14 points per game, while winning by no fewer than 38 points in any of their six contests.
Finishing in a tie for second with identical 1-4 records were both Lanigan Elementary, and Strasbourg who split their season series at one game apiece with Lanigan Elementary winning 43-42 on Jan. 10 and Strasbourg winning 50-45 on Feb. 8.
South East League
The final of the basketball leagues is the junior boys South East League, which featured four teams from Foam Lake, Wynyard Comp Gold and Blue, and Wynyard Elementary.
After 10 league games, Foam Lake emerged as the league’s regular season champion after compiling a record of 5-1, with their lone loss coming against Wynyard Gold.
That 44-40 loss on Feb. 6 was the lone blemish on an otherwise incredible season that saw Foam Lake nearly double up their opposition on the season, outscoring them 300-159.
Meeting Foam Lake in the final will be Wynyard Gold, whose 4-2 record, was just one game shy of Foam Lake for top spot.
Despite holding the fewer number of wins, Wynyard Comp Gold will hold the upper hand on Foam Lake heading into the final having beaten them in their only other contest of the season.
While those two are competing in the final, Wynyard Comp Blue, and Wynyard Elementary will be on the outside looking in as their respective records of 2-3 and 0-5 were not good enough.
While schools have seen their league play either end or about to end, the season is not over as senior teams will focus on provincial playoffs, while the juniors who chose to enter districts will be focused on that.
