Wm. E Hay’s junior varsity boys and girls basketball teams have been consistently improving since the beginning of the season with coaches of both teams expressing satisfaction at the progress and the recent results.
JV girls now have an impressive 5-2 record for the regular season, thanks to the visibly strengthened defensive play over the last few weeks.
Junior girl Wildcats defeated Lacombe Rams 61-48 last Tuesday, Feb. 10 in their latest home game. The leading scorer was Kelsey Bissett with 21 points.
Over the weekend of Feb. 12 and 13, junior girls again performed in impressive fashion advancing to the the finals in the Olds tournament finishing at the second place.
On Friday night, Feb 12, they defeated the host Olds 46-36 and in the second game edged over Rimbey 64-42 the next morning.
Wildcats played against Brooks in the finals and lost 61-38. Kiera Lotoski was named the team’s most valuable player during the final game.
Junior girls now play against Notre Dame on in Red Deer, on Wednesday, Feb. 17.
As for junior boy Wildcats, they lost to visiting Lacombe rams last Tuesday, but theor coach Warren Aspenes was still happy.
“They played an excellent first half with only trailing by three points,” Aspenes said.
“Unfortunately, several turnovers and foul trouble in the second half resulted in the Rams pulling away for a 68-42 victory.”
Brandon Duncan had a notable effort with some strong defensive play in the post.
In the Olds tournament, junior boy Wildcats played three very competitive games with teams out of their zone.
In the first game, Weber Academy, a private school from Calgary defeated the Wildcats 63-43 in a contest that had the Cats begin the game very strong taking a four-point lead into the second quarter but unable to hold for the rest of the match.
Saturday’s morning game versus the host Olds Broncos saw the Cats come out shooting cold with the Broncos scoring 16 points before Wildcats even getting on the board.
“Unfortunately, when the boys started their comeback there just wasn’t enough time and the final score ended up 52 - 28 for Olds,” said coach Aspenes.
“The third game versus Innisfail saw the Cats break out of a scoring funk and finally put up points throughout an entire game and come out with a 63-47 victory.”
Of notable performance for the junior boys over the weekend was Ricky Armstrong with some very aggressive defensive play that forced several turnovers that were converted into points for the Wildcats.
The boys will also be travelling to Red Deer to face Notre Dame on Wednesday.