The basketball tournament at Barrhead Composite High School this past weekend may have been intended for junior varsity high school teams, but it was a junior team that stole the show.
The BCHS Junior Jaguars boys team was included in the junior varsity tournament to make it easier to schedule games by having an even amount of teams. Without them the tournament would have only had seven teams, but it turns out the Jaguars had more impact than the tournament organizers had originally planned.
Karen Fischer, Barrhead Ladies Gryphons coach and one of the tournament organizers, said two schools, who were originally scheculed to be in the tournament, cancelled early Saturday morning (Jan. 30) leaving a big hole, especially on the boys side.
She said the Junior Jaguars filled in for the missing schools admirably, especially considering the circumstances.
“The team played extremely well against teams who were much older and larger,” Fischer said.
In fact, the Junior Jaguars in their second game of the tournament, defeated R.F. Staples Westlock team 52 to 51. In the Jaguars next game they took on a strong Assumption team from Cold Lake, losing by only one basket, 57 to 59. An impressive showing, especially since the Jaguars had no time to rest, with only a few minutes separating the games. As for the Barrhead Boys Gryphons team, the finished out of the medal hunt with a one win and two loss record. Placing first on the Boys side was East Eden, (Edmonton), in second place was Harry Collage (Hinton) and Assumption (Cold Lake).
On the girls side the Barrhead Junior Varsity Gryphons finished second losing in the final game against Athabasca 43 to 48. Assumption High School won the consolation final beating the Westlock T-Birds, finishing third.
