While the wins were elusive for the home club, this past weekend was a showcase of senior girls basketball in Ponoka.
The annual Shine St. Augustine Queens basketball tournament went Feb. 16 and 17 with the host side finding the competition just a bit too stiff, losing all three of their games.
The Queens fell 57-32 to Breton in their opener on Friday. On Saturday, the girls weren’t able to keep up with the strong Our Lady of Mount Pleasant from Camrose losing 69-22 before being defeated later in the day by St. Joseph’s from Whitecourt 64-32.
Despite the team not coming close to a victory on the scoreboard, Queens head coach Samantha Mclay felt the tournament showing by the girls was yet another step in the team’s development.
“There still will always be things that we have to work on, though I do think the girls are improving,” Mclay stated.
“The girls’ shooting needs to see better consistency and the intensity needs to get better. However, the biggest thing is helping them get over that hump of them knowing they can play.
“It’s building up their level of confidence. The team may not yet be at the same competitiveness of other teams, but they are improving in all areas and will be better in the future.”
Unfortunately, the Queens haven’t had as many opportunities to get better on the court this season, as Mclay pointed out the Central 2A high school league cut the number of games this season.
“We were supposed to play a home and away against each team, but that was cut back and now we only play each team once,” she said.
“There have been issues in getting referees and, on top of that, some teams thought there was too much travel especially if the referees might not be available. It has meant a lot less chances for the girls to play.”
The Queens have a couple of league games remaining, including one tonight (Feb. 21) in Ermineskin before the season-ending league tournament set for March 2 and 3.
