BARRHEAD – The Neerlandia Public Christian School (NPCS) Grade 8-9 girls’ team emerged as the winners from the Tier 1 Regional championship hosted Feb. 23 at the Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre.
Coach Brett Seatter said this was a six-team tournament that featured teams from St. Mary School and R.F. Staples School in Westlock, Edwin Parr Composite (EPC) from Athabasca, Barrhead Composite High School, and Pembina North Community School from Dapp.
The tournament draw was based on rankings from league games that occur from December to February. As such, Seatter said the NPCS Eagles were seeded No. 1 and were given a bye into the semi-finals.
Their first match was against Edwin Parr, which the Eagles won 53-18. Seatter said what stood out for him and assistant coach Miranda Strydhorst was how focused and ready the girls were for that match.
“They came out sharp and played well right from the start. Ten of our 13 players scored in that game, which shows how prepared everyone was and how balanced our team was throughout the game,” he said, noting that Grade 8 student Kirsten Strydhorst contributed 15 points alone.
That put them into the final with R.F. Staples, which they knew would be a tough challenge. Seatter said the NPCS girls started very strong and were up 14-6 after the first quarter, but R.F. went on “a pretty good run” in the second quarter and the gap was closed to 20-18 at halftime.
“I think some of the girls were a little nervous at halftime. I told my starters and my Grade 9s that I needed a big third quarter out of them to get the game back in our control, and that I was going to give them an extended shift as long as they were playing well,” she said.
The girls really responded and came out strong in the second half, keeping R.F. Staples off the scoresheet entirely in the third quarter.
Westlock made a final push in the fourth quarter and cut down Neerlandia’s lead to eight points with a couple minutes to go, but they held on and won 42-32.
Seatter highlighted the efforts of Denae Tuininga, who played “the best game I’ve ever seen her play” as she scored 15 points and managed the ball at point guard really well. He also mentioned Mya Tuininga, who scored 10 points.
"I was especially proud of how well all of my Grade 9s defended and rebounded through the whole game. They were solid!”
Seatter noted this was the second year in a row their girls won regionals, adding that this year’s squad included nine returnees.
“It’s been a really special group of girls to coach and work with. They deserved this as they worked hard and have been focused all year long,” he said.
