The Central Plains U16 girls basketball club has wrapped up its season following the Central Canadian Championship over Father’s Day weekend.
Coach Dave McLeod says the team put together a strong showing at the tournament but ultimately fell short of advancing.
“We were literally a couple of baskets each way from actually winning the tournament. Certainly right there in the conversation,” McLeod notes. “We went two wins, two losses, and the two losses were really competitive games.”
The tournament featured some of the top U16 teams in Manitoba. McLeod adds the girls gained valuable experience facing tough competition.
The team played against a range of top-tier teams, including the Brandon squad from Westman, whom they had previously lost to twice but managed to defeat this time. They also faced Attack, considered the top U16 club team in the province, featuring four provincial team players. Their final game was a close contest against Summit from Winnipeg, who went on to win the tournament.
“The goal was to see improvement from these girls, give them some more challenging games,” he says. “A lot of them haven’t really played in a lot of super competitive games against really great players. So this really challenged them.”
McLeod continues that the close matches and tough opponents will help the team going forward.
With the season now complete, the coach remarks that the players will take a break and focus on individual skill development.
“A good chunk of them will play for me at the varsity level next year,” he notes. “A few of them will still be down in junior varsity, and then two years from now this will be pretty close to my varsity team.”
Looking ahead, McLeod says the club team will move up to the U17 level next season, with tryouts planned in the fall.
The club will look to build on this season’s progress as they prepare for next year’s challenges.
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