Hawks host season-opening tournament

By Brady Grove, Times Reporter

The Holy Cross Collegiate Hawks senior girls’ basketball team kicked off the season by hosting a tournament, and while they had a good showing, they ended up losing in the consolation final 53-34 to an aggressive St. Dominic Huskies.
“Defensively we played really strong, we had really good defense especially around the key forcing them to take a lot of outside shots,” said Hawks co-head coach Michelle Leitner. “Unfortunately we had trouble making our own shots.”
The Huskies pushed the Hawks in the first quarter and never relinquished the lead. The Hawks were very effective at picking off passes but the Huskies made some good mid-range shots to pull ahead. The Hawks continued to challenge the Huskies at every turn and tried not to give them any easy space.
“We wanted to get them communicating, getting them to figure out what works on moving the ball around, what works on defense and I think we were able to do that,” said Leitner.
Teammates looked for Hope Given as she scored 12 points for the Hawks by powering her way to the basket. Despite the loss, Leitner liked what she saw out of Given and the team in its first games together, and the potential they showed over the whole weekend.
The Hawks opened against the tournament champions Didsbury Dragons, losing 78-24 on Nov. 30. They rebounded against Banff on Dec. 1 winning 42-25 to grab a spot in the consolation final.
“We had a strong game against Banff on Saturday morning and we saw a lot of improvement from our Friday game,” said Leitner. “We’re super excited for the season to continue and see what the girls can bring forward.”
According to Leitner, the Hawks plan on focusing on their shooting and rebounding going forward, as well as how to generate more chances from strong defense. They will get their chance to test their skills again in Black Diamond on Dec. 14 and 15.