Provincial All-stars: #7 Laci Schmidt from John Taylor; #1 Sarah Lawton from Sanford; #3 Ryan ; McKinley from Sanford#2 Mekdes Wall from Garden Valley; #0 Annika Dyck from Garden Valley
Most Valuable Player: #8 Maria Bergen from Garden Valley
Elmwood High School
BOYSALL-STARS & MVP
Tournament MVP :Elmwood- Josh Bagaza
All Star team:Elmwood- Shukuru Mulumeoderhwa; Elmwood- Adare Ochan; Garden Valley- Dante Dyck; Collège Louis-Riel- Russel Mdoba Lawa; Calvin Christian- Colin Dyck
Congratulations goes out Collège Garden City Collegiate JV girls basketball team who defeated Vincent Massey Winnipeg in the AAAA provincial finals last night with a score of 70-45. Seva Brar and Elayah Pete werenamed provincial all stars and Kiley Schettler is this year’s Most Valuable Player. Congratulations on all your successes this season.
GIRLS JV AAAA PROVINCIAL ALL-STAR & MVP
All-Stars: Emma Elliott – College Jeanne Sauve Emma Vard – Vincent Massey Uloma Isinguzo – Vincent massey Seva Brar – Garden City Elayah Pete – Garden City
MVP: Kiley Schetter – Garden City
École secondaire Sisler High School
BOYS JV AAAA PROVINCIAL ALL-STAR & MVP
All-Stars: Riley Guieb – Garden City Knox Smith – Vincent Massey Brandon Landon Mangaron – Sisler Sam Opanubi – St. Pauls Tamir Zeid – St. Pauls
All-Stars: Darya Rom, Dakota Lancers Madison Schettler, Garden City Gophers Amira Lawrence, Garden City Gophers Paige Schatkowsky, Vincent Massey Trojans Ava Shaw, Daniel McIntyre Maroons
All-Stars: Jeremiah Ige, Vincent Massey Trojans Taven Vigilance, Oak Park Raiders Adrian Ortega-Pelegrin, Oak Park Raiders Kismayo de Michael, Dakota Lancers Inder Brar, St. Paul’s Crusaders
Lancers stand among giants of Manitoba high school basketball
Dakota’s varsity girls clinch third consecutive provincial crown
The Dakota Lancers took their place among the best in Manitoba high school basketball history Monday night.
Sparked by a 25-point performance by Abby Sweeny and 20 more from tournament all-star Darya Rom, the Lancers captured their third consecutive provincial AAAA varsity girls basketball championship with an 84-34 victory over the Garden City Gophers at Investors Group Athletic Centre.
In the varsity boys final, Chris Piotrowski had a season-high 40 points to lead the top-seeded Vincent Massey Trojans to a 101-82 triumph over the sixth-seeded Oak Park Raiders.
Varsity girls MVP Izzi Fust didn’t have a stellar shooting night but still filled the scoresheet for the Lancers, registering eight points, 10 rebounds, two steals and one blocked shot.
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESSThe Dakota Lancers celebrate Monday after capturing the AAAA Provincial Varsity Girls Basketball championship with a 84-34 victory over the Garden City Gophers.
“Honestly, this team has such a bond and dynamic, and this one means a lot to us,” said Fust, who will join her sister, Kyu, the 2023 provincial MVP, at the University of Regina next fall. “I think we really showed up when we needed to and executed our game plan well, and I thought the outcome was what we were hoping for.”
The top-seeded Lancers went 28-3 in 2023-24, losing only once to a Manitoba opponent (Garden City), en route to their three-peat. Oak Park (2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19) and Glenlawn (1990-2000, 2000-01, 2001-02) are the only other schools to win three consecutive varsity girls titles.
Hope Larocque added 14 points, three rebounds and three steals for the winners.
“You never know what you’re going to get in a one-game situation, especially in amateur sport, high school kids,” said Lancers head coach Eric Sung. “But these girls have been battle-tested, they’ve been together forever. Obviously, we had lots of confidence in ourselves but the kids bought in and everything kind of clicked. I’m super proud of them.”
Fust, Rom and Sweeny were integral members of all three title teams.
“Obviously the pressure of trying to win a third one here was weighing on them but I think they just enjoyed playing together, competing together, one more time here and getting it done,” said Sung.
Rom, who will play for the Manitoba Bisons next season, was thrilled to be going out a winner.
“This one obviously is most special, being my senior year, and having the history behind me and being able to play in all three and excel in all three is a moment I’ll never forget,” she said.
Meeyah Greaves had a team-high eight points for the Gophers.
“Yeah, they’re a tough team, they’re well-coached,” said Garden City head coach Roberto Campenella Jr., of the Lancers. “We were not healthy, unfortunately, too, and the ref made some calls. You gotta just kind of go with how the game is going.”
The second-seeded Gophers struggled to find their shooting form, trailing 19-5 after the first quarter and 38-15 at the intermission.
“No, we couldn’t buy a bucket, that’s for sure,” said Campenella, whose team lost 67-43 to Dakota in the 2023 final. “They were struggling as well. But like I said, all season long we wanted to get here. The goal was to compete with them because they’re literally set apart from everyone else.
“They adjusted, they came up with a game plan to slow us down and for whatever reason the hoop was looking pretty small for us.”
Garden City’s task was made more difficult by the absence of star guard Halley Cruz, who missed most of the season with a knee injury.
“Her presence, you could feel her not being out there for us,” said Campenella. “I just feel bad for her because no one wants to sit on the sidelines being injured. We found out about it early so we adapted with what we had, and life goes on.”
Trojans 101 Raiders 82
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESSOak Park’s Onan Furst (right) defends against tournament MVP Chris Piotrowski of the Vincent Massey Trojans.
Massey, seeking its first varsity boys title since 2018-19, went on a 10-point run to end the first half to take a 48-39 lead.
Piotrowski, named tournament MVP, had 23 points before intermission.
“I’ve got good guys around so I never score an outrageous number like 40,” said Piotrowski, a Grade 12 guard who is uncertain about his playing future. “But I don’t know what came over me (tonight). I guess just the moment, and it happened.”
The Raiders also had their hands full attempting to control Jeremiah Ige, a tournament all-star, and Ellison Uwawah, who added 30 and 16 points, respectively.
“They’re a great team,” said Raiders head coach Cam MacNeil. “They won battles, especially down the stretch. They were just going downhill and we couldn’t stop them. They made a lot of tough buckets.”
Raiders guard Taven Vigilance, named a tournament all-star, went to the bench favouring an injured ankle with 7:10 left in the fourth quarter.
“I’m very fortunate,” said Massey head coach Cameron Fay. “We have a very deep team. Last game, it was Chris and Magnus (Carlos), first game Jerry (Ige) got going. I can roll different bodies that can play different ways. Jerry was unbelievable tonight, Brady (Fay’s) defence on Taven was great.
“To be able to have someone who can defend somebody with his skill is awesome. We’ve just got so many options. And these two teams like to get after one another as you can see. It comes from football, there’s a bit of a rivalry.”
Vigilance finished with 20 points while teammate Itay Koifman-Chagin chipped in with 18 points, including five three-pointers.
ALL-STAR HONOURS: Garden City’s Madison Schettler and Amira Lawrence, Vincent Massey’s Paige Schatkowsky and Daniel McIntyre’s Ava Shaw rounded out the varsity girls tournament all-star team… The varsity boys all-star squad also included Oak Park’s Adrian Ortega Pelegrin, Dakota’s Kismayo De Michael and Inderjeet Brar of St. Paul’s.
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS Oak Park Raiders celebrate their win over the St Paul’s Crusaders in the MHSAA provincial championship at Seven Oaks Arena Monday.
For a second straight season, it was the team that took the scenic route that found its way to the winner’s circle.
The Oak Park Raiders needed to survive a wild-card game just to punch their ticket into the AAAA Manitoba High School Association provincial hockey championships. On Monday night, they completed an improbable run to the top, edging the St. Paul’s Crusaders 2-1 in an entertaining affair at Seven Oaks Arena.
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESSThe Oak Park Raiders celebrate their triumph over the St. Paul’s Crusaders in the MHSAA boy’s hockey championship game Monday at Seven Oaks Arena.
St. Paul’s entered the provincial tournament as the top-ranked club, having finished first in the regular-season with a 20-4 record, en route to defeating the Westwood Warriors to claim the city championship. The Crusaders were perfect in round-robin play over the weekend, with victories over the Neepawa Tigers (6-2) and Vincent Massey Trojans (5-2), before beating Westwood in the semifinal to earn their spot in Monday’s finale.
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESSOak Park Raiders celebrate their first goal against the St Paul’s Crusaders in the MHSAA provincial championship at Seven Oaks Arena Monday.
It looked like the Crusaders would continue their dominance this season when Sam Monnin gave St. Paul’s a 1-0 lead in the first period, with Noah Brigg and Eros Bazan drawing the assists on the goal. The Crusaders had won five of the previous sixth provincial titles, falling in the semifinals last year to another wild-card team in the Steinbach Regional Secondary School Sabres. The Sabres would go on to defeat top-ranked Garden City in the finals.
Like Steinbach, Oak Park took the long way to the final, first having to secure their spot in the provincial tournament with a 5-4 overtime win over the River East Kodiaks in a wild-card game.
Once there, though, the Raiders went undefeated over their next three games, earning a 6-0 win over the Morden Thunder, followed by a 4-4 tie with Westwood. That set up a semifinal matchup with Vincent Massey, which Oak Park captured 4-0 to join St. Paul’s in the final.
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESSOak Park Raiders’ Jarno Tuomola celebrates his goal against the St Paul’s Crusaders.
After a scoreless second period, the Raiders evened the score minutes into the third frame. Jarno Tuomola was credited with the equalizer, the goal set up by Brendan McDonald and Zach Einarson.
Not done there, Oak Park took the lead with fewer than eight minutes remaining. Wilton Mullally will go down as the game’s hero, his game-winning snipe set up again by Einarson and McDonald.
Oak Park’s Zach Johnson made 35 saves in the win, while Ben Muse stopped 17 pucks for St. Paul’s. Both clubs went one-for-three on the power play.
For Oak Park, it’s their first provincial title since the 2010-11 season and third overall.
Another thriller, this one took overtime as François-Buote edged Charlottetown Rural to win the 2024 Senior A Women’s Basketball Championship at the PEISAA Provincials played at Holland College and sponsored by Domino’s Pizza.
Kensington defeated Morell to win the 2024 Senior A Men’s Basketball Championship at the PEISAA Senior Provincials played at Holland College and sponsored by Domino’s Pizza.
Yet another close one as Chtown Rural edged Bluefield to win the Senior AA Women’s Basketball Championship at the 2024 PEISAA Senior Basketball Provincials played at Holland College and sponsored by Domino’s Pizza.
Montague hit some clutch 3’s late to get by Rural and win the Senior AA Men’s Basketball Championship at the 2024 PEISAA Senior Basketball Provincials played at Holland College and sponsored by Domino’s Pizza!
Make it 9 titles in a row but Colonel Gray made them work for it as Chtown Rural won the Senior AAA Women’s Basketball Championship at the 2024 PEISAA Senior Basketball Provincials played at Holland College and sponsored by Domino’s Pizza.
A thrilling back and forth final closed out the 2023-24 PEISAA basketball season with Colonel Gray edging Three Oaks to claim the Senior AAA Men’s Championship. The 2024 PEISAA Senior Basketball Provincials were hosted by Holland College and sponsored by Domino’s Pizza.
The Porter Creek Secondary School Rams Junior girls team show off their trophy
By Whitehorse Star
BASKETBALL CHAMPS – The Porter Creek Secondary School Rams Junior girls team show off their trophy won in a tournament at St. Francis of Assisi school on Saturday. Back left to right: Sophie Chavez, Aaima Hafeez, Nevaeh Malcolm, Grace Beauchemin. Front left to right: Avery Malcolm, Esper Logan and Kaydia Tupper.
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