The Hapnot Kweens’ season, thought to be over after a finals loss at zones earlier this month, is back on. The team earned a berth as a wildcard team at this year’s provincial senior varsity basketball championship, being played this week in Souris.
The Kweens were one of three wildcard teams - along with the Carman Cougars and the Teulon Saints - who will enter the biggest tournament of the year, filling out a 10-team field.
As a wildcard team, the Kweens will need to play their way into the tournament’s top bracket. That will take place March 17, when the Kweens face the Teulon Saints at 11:45 a.m. local time. The winner of that game will advance to the tournament quarterfinals, facing the host Souris Sabres later in the day. The loser will go into a consolation round where they will face whoever loses between Carman and the Prairie Mountain Predators from Somerset.
So far this season, the Kweens have played in two tournaments and in several exhibition matchups. Hapnot went 2-1 in a tournament in Swan River last month, defeating two teams from Swan Valley Regional Secondary School and losing to Margaret Barbour Collegiate (MBCI) from The Pas, before advancing to the Zone 11 finals and losing to MBCI earlier this month. The Kweens also defeated Thompson’s R.D. Parker Trojans twice in exhibition games and hold a win over the Frontier Collegiate Raiders - MBCI is the only team to have beaten the Kweens so far this season.
Kodiaks
Creighton’s basketball teams will be moving on up in the Saskatchewan high school basketball pyramid, with the boys winning their conference title and both senior clubs advancing to regionals.
The boys’ varsity Kodiaks came out on top in their conference championship in Prince Albert March 12. To get there, the Kodiaks had to defeat the Senator Myles Venne Huskies from Lac La Ronge Indian Band, which they did, winning 78-63.
With that win, the Kodiaks would face the hosts Prince Albert Collegiate Institute (PACI), with a spot in regionals on the line. The Kodiaks delivered, winning 58-42 and moving on.
The victory will put the Kodiaks one step closer to the provincial Hoopla tournament later this year, but first, the team will have to advance from the regional round. The team will play again March 18, going down south to Fort Qu’Appelle to play against the sixth-ranked Indian Head Broncs. The Kodiaks will be seeded 11th in their region.
If the Kodiaks win, they will play again Saturday afternoon against the winner of Fort Qu’Appelle and Oxbow - a loss will mean an earlier game against the loser of that game. Both games would take place in Fort Qu’Appelle. If the Kodiaks win both games, they will be entered into the provincial round, where the top four 3A boys’ teams in the province will face off later this month.
The Kodiaks’ girls team also played in their conference tournament last weekend in Shellbrook. Creighton won 81-33 over Kinistino in their first round game but lost a semifinal matchup to the host W.P. Sandin Aardvarks in a 64-63 heartbreaker. The girls’ conference title would eventually be won by the St. Walburg Saints, who beat the Aardvarks in the final.
Despite not winning, Creighton will also qualify for girls’ regionals, with the Kodiaks slated to play Regina Christian in Unity March 18 and either Unity or Moose Jaw Riverview later in the weekend. The Kodiaks enter the girls’ draw as the 10th seed.
