Siksika Nation hosts Alberta teen basketball tournament

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Coaches and players praised organizers for a job well done in hosting the province at the Blackfoot All-Teen Basketball Classic held at the Deerfoot Sportsplex on Siksika Nation Nov. 14 and 15.

Siksika was chosen from 68 clubs vying to host one of the seven tournaments on the Alberta Youth Basketball Club's (AYBC) fall roster.

The AYBC was established as a representative body of youth basketball clubs in Alberta. The association was formed to enhance and promote the development of elite athletes through club basketball leagues.

"It was an excellent tournament," said Gord Hanasyk, coach for the Edmonton Thunder, the tournament champions on the girls' eight-team draw. "The organizers kept the tournament running well with good quality officiating. It was a first-class operation and we'll definitely come back next year."

The players participating were all within the ages of 12 to 15 years old, with eight teams of boys and eight teams of girls from across Alberta competing.

In the boys' championship final, the AYBC number one ranked Calgary Selects stayed focused and played good basketball to defeat the Calgary Fury 71-52. Danny Tan, coach for the Calgary Selects, commented that overall it was a very competitive and well-organized tournament.

"It wasn't easy just to get to the finals," said Tan. "Old Agency (Blood Tribe) played us very tough and we just beat them by 10 points. In the semi-finals we were down by 17 points to the S.A.I.T Grade 8 Junior Trojans before we came back to win that one."

The girls' final also saw the AYBC top-ranked Edmonton Thunder outplay the Calgary Starz in a 65-37 championship win. The Edmonton girls were never in trouble as they also led at half-time 31-15.

Coach for the Edmonton Thunder Gord Hanasyk said his team enjoyed themselves because back home it's hard to find competition that brings together a good mix of talent. He also said it was good that competition in either the A or B (consolation) stream was determined by each team's first game.

"We played the Calgary Starz before, and they have given us tougher games," said Hanasyk. "Our girls played great today and they stuck to their style of defence."

Meanwhile, the Siksika junior girls were winless in their three games, but proved they could compete at this level with a close game against the Lethbridge Shooters and a heart-breaking overtime loss to Calgary Starz Grade 8 team.

The tournament's real highlight for local fans was the boys' consolation final that saw a nail-biting finish with a 71-69 overtime victory for the Siksika Eagles over the Mount Royal Junior Cougars. Siksika lost their opening game in the tournament to the team from Okatoks, then rebounded with a win over S.A.I.T's Grade 9 team to set-up the consolation final against Mount Royal. At half-time, Siksika was down 31-28 to Mount Royal. Siksika battled back from a 10-point deficit to tie at 66 points apiece, sending the game into overtime.

Jason Running Rabbit, tournament organizer and coach of the Siksika Eagles, said he was glad to have had the chance to host this tournament for the youth. He hopes to get the chance to host this tournament next year.

"We'd like to make this an annual event, because we have a lot of young people in our community who can look forward and benefit from this tournament in the future. There are young teenagers in the community playing club ball. Club ball is different from junior high basketball because with AYBC, clubs can play 10 months of the year rather than only two or three months in junior high," Running Rabbit said.