Hapnot’s junior varsity Kweens basketball team picked up a consolation round victory at their recent provincial tournament in Winnipeg, almost getting an upset over a top team along the way.
Entering last weekend's tournament as the seventh-ranked team, the Kweens would play the hosts, the 10th-ranked Springs Christian Eagles. The Kweens ran over the hosts 68-23 to enter into the main pool - and face a possible juggernaut in the second-ranked Souris Sabres.
Hapnot gave the Sabres all they could handle, taking them to overtime and all, but the Sabres pulled out the victory, knocking the Kweens out of title contention with a 57-52 defeat. The Sabres would eventually reach the tournament finals and finish second, with only the top seed William Morton Warriors able to beat them.
After the loss, Hapnot headed into the consolation bracket, facing the St. Paul’s Barons from Elie. That led to a 56-53 win for the Kweens, pushing them into the consolation round final Saturday morning against Winnipeg’s Immanuel Christian Falcons. There, Hapnot’s defence locked down the Falcons, giving up less than 20 points in a 39-15 win and going home with a fifth-place finish.
With a roster full of Grade 10 students, all but three of the Kweens’ players will be moving on to senior varsity play next season. The three Grade 9 players - Lydia Alexander, Sadie Hynes and Olivia McKenzie - can come play for either Hapnot’s JV or senior varsity squads, like Ariana Bellisle, Taylor Burwash, Tieryn Fisher, Hyndes, Mila Neubuhr and Blake Shirran all have this season.
The Hapnot senior Kweens are the school’s next club to enter provincial play, heading down to Somerset for their tournament this weekend. Hapnot will enter the tournament as the province’s fourth-seeded team and played Souris, the provincial fifth-ranked squad, to open the tournament Thursday.
Neither of the school’s boys' teams have qualified for provincials this year, with the senior varsity Kings finishing third at their recent Zone 11 tournament and the JV Kings coming second in theirs. The Frontier Collegiate Raiders will play in the senior boys’ tournament in Russell this weekend, coming into the tournament ranked second in the province.
