Both senior basketball teams at Edwin Parr Composite are in the tune up phase prior to competing for a spot in their respective provincial tournaments.
For the Predators senior girls club, they came out strong last Thursday night at the EPC gym in defeating Lac La Biche’s J.A. Williams 47-25.
Even though they only had one player hit double digits on the scoresheet, the scoring was well distribute as there were only two that didn’t have a point in the game.
And the team didn’t have a chance for much of a rest, as they headed off on the bus to Lloydminster right after the game for a tournament the next morning.
In their opening game, the Predators took on Morinville – one of their opponents in the upcoming zone playoff tournament at EPC on Mar. 13 and 14.
Head coach Wade Hicks said the girls played their game and played well in the 43-23 loss.
“We haven’t seen Morinville yet this year and needed to see their aggressive play before zones,” stated Hicks.
Next up on the consolation side of the draw was a big school out of Saskatoon, which yielded another loss.
“They were a 4A school and we fell by 18, but again the girls played well,” Hicks said.
“We kept coming back and forced them to keep their best players out against us to finish us off. We just ran out of steam in the fourth and couldn’t keep them within reach.”
In their final game, they came up short against Charles Spencer School from Grande Prairie.
“The girls once again played a solid game. We have had two major injuries in the last little while and players have had to learn to play different spots on the floor as well as extended minutes,” explained Hicks.
“The last few games have been about learning to play those new spots. The girls are responding well and have really started to get it figured out. We should be ready for zones.”
Hicks is hoping to get in one more game at home, either this week or early next week, to further prepare his team as they are the host team for the zone tournament, which will tip off a week from this Friday.
For the senior boys squad, they had the weekend off, but did get a bit of revenge in their game last Thursday night, edging out Lac La Biche’s J.A. Williams 63-59.
They lost by one to this same team the previous weekend at the tournament in Cold Lake, so earning the victory on their home court was great for the team in both gaining some confidence and maintaining som positive attitudes.
“It was another great game and really exciting. The boys play really well, especially in the end when it came down to our defence winning the game,” said Snow.
“Beating them in such close game after they beat us is awesome for us.”
Like the girls, the hope is to get one final tune up game for the boys as they will also have this coming weekend off.
The zone playoff tournament for the boys is also Mar. 13 and 14 and will be held in Morinville.
