by KELLY FRIESEN
Journal editor
Humboldt native Brianne Hergott suited up with the best of the best in U17 girls basketball. The HCI Mohawk played for the U17 Team Sask. in the 17th annual MSNM National Basketball Championship in Seattle a couple of weekends ago.
The 48-team tournament is designed to give NCAA teams a long look at some of the top girls basketball players in the world. The tourney has included clubs from France, China, Germany and New Zealand in the past.
Hergott felt the experience of playing in the tourney was "incredible." She never played in front of that many people or against as high quality of teams before.
"It was an incredible experience," said Hergott, who will be a Grade 12 student next year. "There were lots of people watching and huge teams and really good teams. I've never experienced anything like that before."
With the spotlight on her, Hergott had to adjust to the style of play. She noticed a difference between the rules in Canadian basketball and American.
"It was different when adjusting to everything; American basketball is a bit different than Canadian basketball," she said.
Team Sask U17 finished the tourney with a 2-4 record. They beat the Montana Breakers and Klamath Basin Elite and lost to The Way to Win Silver twice, the FCA Revolution Maroon and the Sagebrush Hoops-Silver.
"I thought we did okay," said Hergott. "There were some really good teams there, so we had to play our best to compete with them."
Hergott had to jump through her share of hurdles to crack the team. She went through numerous tryouts against the top U17 girls basketball players in the province.
"There were four tryouts and after every one you'd be asked to come back for another one," she said. "Then they'd call each player and tell her whether she made the team. I thought it was pretty nerve racking."
Hergott has one more year of high school basketball left. From there, she hopes to play university ball.
"I want to play college basketball," she said. "I still have another year of high school basketball and hope to go on to college after that."
