Queens make it to tourney

The Vauxhall Queens senior varsity girls basketball team fought through injuries and adversity to take second place in a tournament held in Taber over the weekend.

“Overall, I was quite pleased with the girls’ performance,” said Queens coach Allen Matthews.

The Queens started the tournament strong on Friday, Jan. 10, beating Rosemary 47-23.

The win was a full team effort, according to Matthews.

“We were able to play everybody significant minutes,” he said. “Even the girls who came in who don’t always get an opportunity to play, or play much, came in and played really well.”

“That was a highlight for them to come in and play well.”

On Saturday, the Queens continued their dominance with a win over the St. Mary’s Auroras, beating them 57-39. The game was a close one at the start, but as the minutes ticked by the Queens began to pull away on the scoreboard.

“We threw a press at them and were able to cause them to turn the ball over lots and get some easy baskets,” he said. “Our press worked well against (them).”

The win set up a showdown with Clearwater Academy in the final on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, the Queens couldn’t seem to find the basket in the final, ultimately losing to their Clearwater Academy rivals 39-20.

“We had our worst shooting game we’ve had all year in the final,” said Matthews. “Not to take anything away from them, they had a good team.”

“We just couldn’t put anything in the bucket. That was our struggle in the final.”

The Queens received some bad news on the injury front when they discovered Grade 11 student Jolayne Koperas has suffered a season-ending injury to her ankle and would not be available for the tournament. Koperas needed surgery to repair the injury, which Matthews said occurred while playing volleyball.

“We’ve had to do a bit of juggling and the other girls have had to play significantly more minutes,” said Matthews.

The Queens were scheduled to play in Foremost on Jan. 15 before heading out to a tournament in Sterling this weekend.

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