Hapnot’s senior basketball teams hit the court down south last weekend and the Kweens continued their torrid pace, remaining undefeated on the year.
Both of Hapnot’s senior squads would head south to Swan River and Swan Valley Regional Secondary School for the Pizza Place tournament - the Kweens and the Kings would each play regional foes in a round-robin-style tournament.
The senior Kweens would play four games against two other teams - the host Swan Valley Tigers and Thompson’s R.D. Parker Trojans. Starting against Swan Valley Friday afternoon, the Kweens would pick up a decisive 70-32 win, then would play the Trojans right after in a tight turnaround. Fatigue wouldn’t hamper the Kweens though, beating their larger northern rival school 55-28.
Saturday morning would see the Kweens back in action against the Trojans and while Thompson would make it closer than the game a night earlier, Hapnot still walked out with a 45-31 victory. In the final game Saturday night, the Kweens would face Swan Valley once again, this time beating them even more than they did the day before, handing the hosts a 65-16 whoopin’.
The senior Kweens will be back in action early next month, going back to Swan River and playing in the school’s Swan Valley Co-op Invitational tournament. The team has not been beaten on the parquet yet this season, winning the Bill McDonald Invitational tournament in The Pas in December, the Clipper Classic in Dauphin earlier this month, an exhibition game against Creighton before the holidays and the Pizza Place tournament - all won without a single L to speak of.
In the boys’ half of the tournament, the senior Kings would face both Swan Valley and R.D. Parker, as well as the Dauphin Regional Comprehensive Secondary School (DRCSS) Clippers. Instead of a double round-robin, each team would play three games, facing every other team once.
Hapnot started against the host Tigers and lost a hard-fought 62-55 game in the tournament opener Friday, but would bounce back on Saturday, first beating Dauphin 71-58 and then knocking off the Trojans 55-37. With a 2-1 record, the Kings would finish in second place - the Tigers, who went undefeated, took the gold.
The Kings will face Dauphin again next month, when the Clippers host their own senior boys tournament.
Neither of Hapnot’s junior varsity teams were in action last weekend, but will be soon - R.D. Parker will host their own junior boys’ and girls’ tournaments Jan. 27-28.
Creighton Community School’s and Frontier Collegiate’s teams did not play in tournaments last weekend.
