The Notre Dame High School (NDHS) Wildcats boys' basketball team dominated play on the weekend en route to winning the Bonnyville Centralized High School (BCHS) Invitational.
The NDHS boys notched a 79-65 win over the rival BCHS Roadrunners to kick off the tournament on Friday afternoon and kept their spectacular play up all the way to the championship.
“There seems to be a new level of maturity coming to the team now that wasn't there earlier in the season,” said Wildcats head coach Dennis Ozaruk. “They are starting to play for each other. We don't have a lot of individualism anymore. We are playing team ball and that is great to see.”
The local squad was matched up against Father Mercredi Community School of Fort McMurray in the finals on Saturday afternoon and was able to come out on top after a back-and-forth contest.
“We came out a little bit flat and spotted them nine points right off the bat,” said Ozaruk. “Then the boys settled down.”
After Father Mercredi jumped out to a 9-0 lead, the Wildcats battled back and found themselves down just 11-9. The improved play from the home squad resulted in a 42-35 halftime lead.
The second half saw Father Mercredi step up their game and pressure the Wildcats. The visitors pushed back and brought the score to 68-62, but that was as close as they would get.
“They went to press us and the boys handled the press really, really well,” said Ozaruk. “We have a team with quite a bit of size and every one of our players can handle the ball well.”
Notre Dame fought back and held off the Father Mercrdi attack, eventually winning 85-71.
The NDHS girls' side also took part in the BCHS Invitational, not fairing as well as the boys, finishing at the bottom of a five team pack.
BCHS Girls capture bronze
A tough loss to Marwayne on Friday night was the only blemish on the BCHS Roadrunners girls record on the weekend as they played their way to a bronze medal at their home tournament.
The Roadrunners kicked off the tournament with a 60-33 win over Holy Trinity, before dropping a close 45-37 contest to Marwayne, the eventual tournament champion.
“We were down to six players because we had two away, so we had some tired kids,” said head coach Heather Bartling. “Six players with only a one game break is a real challenge of the cardio, but they did good.”
The girls didn't let the loss keep them down as they went out and walked over local rivals NDHS, then took down Holy Trinity again to capture bronze.
“I am proud of them. They probably played the best game I've ever seen them play (on Friday) against Marwayne,” said Bartling. “It was the most physical game they've ever played.”
Bartling added, “I have no grade 12's on the team, so we are young. The more games they play, the more they can learn and the better (they will be) for us for next year.”
The BCHS boys' squad also found themselves in the bronze medal game after losing 79-65 to NDHS and defeating Holy Trinity 80-63.
The local teams will be back in action this coming weekend for a tournament in Cold Lake.
