ESTEVAN - The Estevan Comprehensive School Elecs are the 2024 McLeod Series champions.
ECS and their rivals, the Weyburn Comprehensive School Eagles, contested the annual best-of-four showdown in Estevan last Tuesday and Weyburn on Thursday. Each team won twice in this year's series, so the point-differential tiebreaker was needed. Estevan outscored Weyburn 282-271 over the course of four games.
In the first two games on Tuesday, ECS won the senior boys' game 76-71, and Weyburn won the senior girls' game 63-57. On Thursday night, the Elecs senior girls defeated Weyburn 73-49 in the opening game, while Weyburn's senior boys beat Estevan 88-76.
"The boys and girls worked really hard, and that was one of our goals this year to win the McLeod Series," said senior boys' head coach Trevor Dutka in an interview with the Mercury and SaskToday. "We all went home with smiles on our faces."
Estevan had a large lead early in last Tuesday's senior boys' game, including a 34-24 advantage with a few minutes to play in the second quarter. Weyburn then outscored Estevan 12-2 and the game was tied at 36-36 at halftime.
"We had a lot of fans here Tuesday night, and they were very, very loud. The players, looking into the stands, were mesmerized, and I told the boys that this would be the biggest crowd they would ever play in front of, and they agreed after. When we won that game, … a couple of the comments after said it was the most excitement they had in their basketball career."
The Elecs led 61-54 after three quarters. Weyburn fought back and briefly held the lead in the fourth, but Estevan rallied and pulled away in the final minutes.
Jayden Kuchinka led the ECS attack with 28 points and Koen Turner finished with 16.
As for the senior girls' game, the two teams battled for the lead for most of the first half, with Weyburn leading 30-27 at halftime.
The Eagles came out strong in the second half, going on a 21-9 run to lead 51-36. Estevan gained some momentum with a three-pointer in the final seconds of the third and another early in the fourth to close the deficit to nine. Estevan then chipped away at the lead until the final buzzer.
Sadie Aspinall had 21 points for the Elecs.
"Tuesday I thought the team did really well with handling the pressure of the crowd. My team has never played in a series before – I only had three returners actually play in the McLeod Series – and … the other 10 were new to that game experience, especially this type of competition," said Jessie Smoliak, head coach of the ECS Elecs senior girls’ basketball team.
She compared McLeod to a miniature version of the Hoopla provincial tournament.
In Thursday's games, the Elecs' senior girls led 37-27 at halftime and continued to dominate in the second half, outscoring Weyburn 36-22 for the 24-point margin of victory.
Smoliak thought they carried the momentum from the final minutes of Tuesday into Thursday's game. She believes the game in Weyburn was their best of the year.
"We forgot to play defence on Tuesday, so definitely the girls came out, they were refocused, they were determined, and they took the loss pretty seriously on Tuesday, so they felt like they needed to redeem themselves and really represent what kind of basketball we've been playing to this point in the season," said Smoliak.
Point guard Megan Porter and shooting guard Aspinall showed leadership through their communication, which Smoliak said can be difficult because the gym is so loud during the games. Aspinall led Estevan's attack with 23 points, while Porter had 20.
As for the senior boys' contest, Weyburn led 45-43 at halftime. The Eagles then pulled away in the second half, building a double-digit lead, but Estevan remained close enough to win the series.
"The boys played really good defence. That was our key to competing in every game. The defence will win you games every time," said Dutka.
When the girls won as big as they did, it took some pressure off the boys, Dutka said.
Kuchinka had 24 points and Turner added 14.
This is Estevan's first McLeod Series title since 2017. The competition was cancelled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and in 2023 due to concerns about fan conduct.
Hundreds of spectators from both communities filled the gymnasiums to watch the games.
"The fans were really friendly and loud. It was a great environment," Dutka said. "The referees had trouble hearing the buzzer when we were calling timeouts and stuff like that. Fans were very well-behaved and cheering loud and proud for Estevan or Weyburn, whichever they were there to support."
In addition to support from the community and the school, Smoliak said the student representative council does an "incredible" job of getting support and the cheerleaders are great, too.
"I always like saying that Estevan puts on a great show. We put on a really great showcase and involve as many as we can," she said.
Both coaches said they believe this will give their teams confidence entering the rest of the season. The senior girls will host their annual Shoot for a Cure tournament on March 1 and 2. It's not only their home event but a fundraiser for the fight against cancer. Then they will compete in the Hoopla regionals.
As for the boys, they have one more tournament before they try to qualify for Hoopla.
"The boys are pumped about practising every day. They love being in the gym. We open up the jump anytime they want to get in there, and they're really focused," said Dutka.
This year marked the 87th edition of the McLeod Series - a competition that started back in the 1930s and remains Saskatchewan's oldest basketball competition. Weyburn leads the all-time series 46-41.
