Junior Hawks host home tournament

By Brad Everett Times Contributor

The Holy Cross Collegiate Junior B Hawks boys’ and girls’ basketball teams hosted their annual tournament Feb. 7-8, and although both came up short, the weekend wasn’t without its bright spots.
“The tournament was a great experience for them, and the competition was very even between all the teams that entered,” said Hawks boys’ coach Dan Patterson. “The boys were very happy to get a win 34-32 over Our Lady of the Snows, which carried on to our next game. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get enough shots to drop, though the chances were high quality and we fell 31-22 to St. Francis; and lost a heartbreaker in our final game against West Glen 32-28.”
While the Hawks played solid team defense, they had trouble on the offensive end of the court.
“There were many missed opportunities because we rush our lay-ups or second chance opportunities off offensive rebounds, and in tight games such as those this weekend, that can be the difference between a win and a loss,” said Patterson
The girls also started the weekend with a win, defeating Our Lady of the Snows from Canmore 13-11, but dropped their second and third games to Notre Dame from High River and Westglen from Didsbury respectively.
“The girls played well defensively,” said coach Katrina Dixon. “We watched their understanding of switching checks develop from game to game which was a major factor in our comeback in the third game. We are still really working on the progression from each girl being hyper focused on their check to an understanding of defense as much more dynamic. Offensively we need to work on swinging the ball more and driving left.”
Westglen swept its three games to win the boys’ side, while the girls’ side was won by Notre Dame, which also went undefeated over the weekend.