Ardens Power Out City League Title

Throughout the regular season the Swift Current Ardens were the team to beat in the Moose Jaw city league senior girls division.

On Tuesday evening they met the regular season second place team the Central Cyclones in the city league final.

Despite their best efforts by the Cyclones the Ardens claimed the city league title with a 74 - 34 final score.

“It’s not the way we wanted it. Of course not but that’s OK they worked really hard to the end so I’m super proud of them,” Central Cyclones head coach Tanya MacLean told MJ Independent in a post game interview.

Asked for the reason for the loss she said there were multiple reasons why.

“Swift Current is a solid team. They shot the ball well. Not a lot went in for us and the score reflects that. But I’m super proud of them. They worked hard the whole game. They didn’t give up,” MacLean said.

The Cyclones hit the court with 14 players on the bench. The team was relatively healthy with one regular player in a walking cast and two junior players called up.

Regarding the Cyclones season she said the accomplished many of the goals they set.

Goals which included making it to the city league final.

The team’s next goal is to make it into the Hoopla provincial high school championship tournament at the end of the month.

About the team’s development over the season she said there has been lots of improvement but there are still things to work on.

The team needs to work on better execution and less turnovers. There is still two more weekends to get it done m, she said.

MacLean described the team’s season as “so far, so good.”

“Hopefully we can improve on that. And if we do good things are going to come,” she said.

One noticeable improvement in the Cyclones game there was a major drop in the number of fouls.

“I think they were maybe just a little bit more disciplined defensively on the fouls but the effort was there.”

Grade 12 student Leigh Delizo said the team did their best.

“I think we went out there pretty tough. It was a tough game,” Delizo said.

“You know it’s a 5A team but as a 4A team I think we did really good. And we tried our best.”

Asked about her impressions about the team’s progression over the season she said they had improved.

“I think we improved a lot from the start of our first game. I think we play full out. Especially our seniors I think we played great today. We put full out especially (since) it’s our last year so it’s our last game enjoy it.”

She said playing a tough team like Swift Current fires the team up as they head to Hoopla.