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Deton Cho Eagles finish Calgary tournament on winning note

There's no better motivation for a team to win a game than losing a game you should have won before.

That's what the Deton Cho Eagles girls high performance basketball did at the Centennial Howler Tournament in Calgary this past weekend.

Mali Straker looks to get by a defender from Calgary's Centennial High School during action in the Centennial Howler Tournament in Calgary on Feb. 8. photo courtesy of Benji Straker
Mali Straker looks to get by a defender from Calgary's Centennial High School during action in the Centennial Howler Tournament in Calgary on Feb. 8.
photo courtesy of Benji Straker

The Eagles, playing as Sir John Franklin High School in the tournament due to stipulations against club teams entering, finished with a record of one win and two losses when the dust settled. The win came against Diefenbaker High School of Calgary in convincing fashion, a 40-point drubbing.

Everything started off against Centennial High School of Calgary, the host team, and it wasn't the best game the girls have ever played, according to head coach Aaron Wells.

SA国际影视传媒淐entennial is the best high school team in Calgary and we were outmatched,SA国际影视传媒 he said. SA国际影视传媒淚t was an intense atmosphere and the nerves were there. We would have been in tough any other day of the week.SA国际影视传媒

How intense was the atmosphere? Spotlights for the player introductions and a marching band belting it out the entire game, said Wells.

SA国际影视传媒淭hey were excited to have a team from the NWT there,SA国际影视传媒 he said. SA国际影视传媒淚 thought it was a great atmosphere and an awesome experience for the girls to be a part of.SA国际影视传媒

Next up was Holy Trinity Academy from Calgary and it ended up being another loss but not even close to what the Centennial experience was.

As Wells described it, it was a very winnable game.

SA国际影视传媒淲e ended up losing by six points and it was a good game for us,SA国际影视传媒 he said. SA国际影视传媒淭here was about eight or 10 lead changes and we played great.SA国际影视传媒

The problem, he said, was that the girls ended up going basket-for-basket with Holy Trinity, something that didn't have to happen in the waning minutes.

SA国际影视传媒淲e were down five with about three minutes left and we just couldn't get the stops when we needed them,SA国际影视传媒 he said. SA国际影视传媒淲e needed a basket-stop instead of basket-for-basket.SA国际影视传媒

So with that game being used as motivation, the Eagles came out the next morning and laid it on Diefenbaker's squad thick.

Wells said it was a huge character game considering it was early in the day.

SA国际影视传媒淚t's an 8 a.m. game on Saturday morning and you never know how those games will go,SA国际影视传媒 he said. SA国际影视传媒淭he girls just came out guns blazing. We pressed them in the early going and got some steals, which turned into fast-breaks. They were all locked in.SA国际影视传媒

Taya Straker, one of the youngest players on the team, was named player of the game.

SA国际影视传媒淟osing that second game fired them up big time,SA国际影视传媒 said Wells.

Once the business of tournament basketball was completed, the girls got the chance to hang out with the University of Calgary's women's basketball team on the Sunday. They watched a practice and once that was over, the girls got to chat with some of the players about university life.

Wells said the girls also got some on-court practice time with Matt Spencer, the school's assistant coach.

SA国际影视传媒淥ne session was for the entire team and another was with the top-level players,SA国际影视传媒 he said. SA国际影视传媒淚t was real good for the girls to be able to get in a couple of developmental sessions.SA国际影视传媒



About the Author: James McCarthy

I'm the managing editor with SA国际影视传媒 and have been so since 2022.
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