They're tall, they're fast, and they're strong. And they won their home tournament last weekend.
The Humboldt Collegiate Institute (HCI) senior girls' basketball team won their home tournament, held December 9 and 10, with a huge win in the final over Lumsden.
"We won by 28 points," reported HCI coach Kevin Grieman. Humboldt scored 88 points and Lumsden just 60. "We laid into Lumsden pretty hard."
Grieman had predicted his team would win by maybe 15 points, based on what he'd seen Lumsden do the rest of the tournament. "But they couldn't handle our size, our speed or our power," he said.
That size, speed and power was apparent from the very first game of the tournament, when Humboldt took on the Wynyard Bears on Friday afternoon, and won 72 to 30.
Despite a lot of turnovers on both sides, and a huge number of travelling calls made due to a change in regulations, the Mohawks couldn't be stopped, no matter what the Bears tried.
The HCI team got high marks from their coach for their play.
"They played very well, especially in the first quarter," Grieman said. "Our defensive intensity was insane."
With Humboldt winning by a huge margin over the Bears late in the game, HCI sent their rookies in to gain some experience.
"They had some nice moves," Grieman said of the younger players.
The win over Wynyard pitted Humboldt against Clavet on Saturday, a game HCI won 70 to 35.
That was surprising, Grieman said, because Clavet has had very strong teams in the past. They are in a rebuilding year at present, he noted.
That put Humboldt in the final against Lumsden, who had won 62-33 over Kenaston and 77-49 over Foam Lake.
The final was an intense game, Grieman noted.
"Right from the get-go, we were pressing them a lot," he said. "They couldn't handle the pressure. Our size became an issue for them."
Though Lumsden is not a small team, HCI does have Paige Crozon, who stands 6'1." Crozon, who will be playing basketball on a scholarship to the U.S. next year, played point guard all weekend.
"There was a little heat in the game," Grieman admitted.
Lumsden, he added, came to Humboldt to play the Mohawks. They were the silver medallists in last year's 3A provincial final, and wanted a crack at the 4A gold-medal-winning HCI squad.
The other local squad, the Lake Lenore Lancers, did not fare so well at the tournament. They fell to Foam Lake 45 to 32, and to Kenaston 51 to 42, before winning the consolation final 54-12 over Delisle.
There was a big upset in the B-side final when Kenaston beat Wynyard 42-38, and another in the third-place final, when Foam Lake beat Clavet 70-43.
Teams attended the tournament from Foam Lake, Clavet, Lake Lenore, Lumsden, Delisle, Wynyard and Kenaston.
