The Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) Elecs senior girls and boys basketball teams won the 81st annual home-and-home McLeod Series against the Weyburn Comprehensive School (WCS) Eagles last Wednesday, but the way they accomplished the feat left a bad taste.
Determined to come back from a 70-52 loss to the Elecs last Wednesday at ECS in the first half of the total points' series, the Eagles girls’ team hit the court first against the Elecs in front of a packed WCS gym of red, white and black Eagles’ supporters roaring their team to victory. Led by forward Jada Kot, the Eagles jumped out to a 34-21 lead at the half by controlling the boards on both ends of the court, converting on their second-chance opportunities and shutting down their opponent’s outside threat.
“They out rebounded us big time right from the beginning,” said Elecs girls coach Jessie Smoliak. “They got that 20-point lead and it was just second-opportunity shots. We tried to prepare for that mentally and throughout practice and it just didn’t work out for us during the game.”
The Elecs did battle back in the third and fourth quarters slowing down their offence and playing more aggressively to bring the score to a close 57-55 deficit with three minutes to play. Elec Kourtney Kobitz played a big part in the comeback scoring nine of her 15 points in the third quarter before fouling out midway through the fourth, but the team still couldn’t overcome the early big deficit and eventually fell 65-57.
“We played man the entire time, put pressure on them the entire time and that shut down their three-point shooters,” said Eagles girls coach Karly Johnson. “Last game they made eight threes, which really killed us. So we stepped it up.”
Coupled with the girls’ eight-point win and their 76-66 loss to the Elecs one week earlier, the Eagles boys’ team faced a needed 21-point victory to lead WCS to a McLeod series championship. They came out flying taking a 14-5 lead only 5:11 into the first quarter thanks to a fast transition offence led by guard Bryden Rumpel. The Elecs found their groove shortly after and fought back to make the score 20-18 after one quarter and 38-35 at halftime due to a determined effort both inside the paint and beyond the arc by forward Carter Kuchinka, who scored 13 of his 22 total points in the half, and Donny Mortenson, who drained eight of his 12.
“We did play very good defence, but we failed to convert on opportunities,” said Elecs forward Reagan Wallewein. “We missed quite a few layups and we had quite a few turnovers that we would have liked to fix.”
The Eagles hit the ground running in the third quarter jumping ahead 45-35 a little over two minutes in, but a strong attack from the three-point line by Elec Brett MacMurchy kept Estevan in the game and only trailing 57-51 heading into the fourth. Eagles guard Spencer Anderson took over in the final frame, scoring eight of his 13 total points, and leading Weyburn to the 74-66 win.
“I think what was key was that three-point shooting at the end there,” said Elecs forward Dallas Dowhanuik. “Carter hit some big shots. Brett hit some big shots and it propelled us to the McLeod Series.”
“The most important thing, and my guys know this, is that every game we play we play to have our weaknesses exposed and then you play to correct those weaknesses,” said Eagles boys coach Jacquie Williams. “This was just another game where we knew Estevan was going to take some things away from us and we had to adjust.”
Since the Eagles were unable to come back from the 28-point deficit inflicted by the Elecs in the first half of the home-and-home total points series, Estevan was awarded the McLeod Trophy. The series victory was the Elecs’ second in a row after falling to the Eagles in the previous 31.
“Nerves played a huge roll,” said Elecs boys coach Shane Ross. “It was reversed from last week. As far as winning, I really don’t like not winning the game and winning the series, but I guess we’ll just talk to the kids about that. We are happy to have the series (win) again, but still kind of a bad taste in our mouth that we didn’t get a win in the game.”
