Mother Nature was an All-Star for the Lynx Basketball 3 on 3 Tournament on Saturday.
Warm temperatures and sunny skies helped make the first annual event - said to be Yukon’s only outdoor basketball tournament - a success.
A total of 14 teams - eight open men’s, three open women’s and three U17 girls’ - took part in the tournament at Porter Creek Secondary.
“Basketball players who are used to playing in gyms through the winter typically enjoy the chance to play outdoors, including the added challenge of playing with outdoor elements like sun, wind and a ground surface that’s much less forgiving if you fall down,” said organizer Sarah Crane in a news release. “3 on 3 is becoming a very popular form of the sport. The action happens at a single hoop, distilling the game down to the basics of attacking off the dribble, passing and shooting. With fewer players around the hoop, there’s often more room to drive and attack the hoop.”
The warm day suited the open men’s winning team just fine. The team, called the Tropics, featuring Sean Munro, Dave Stehelin and Anthony DeLorenzo, went undefeated for the title.
Legs for Days - Sarah Taylor, Noria Deacon, K’eduka Jack and Ann Jirousek - topped the open women’s division.
Taking the U17 girls’ division was a team of Jetta Bilsky, Isabel Magcsucang, Katelyn Holway, Jayden Demchuk and Abigal Cuenza, which “featured several players who will be representing Yukon at the 2015 Western Canada Summer Games,” said Crane.
The Lynx program, founded in 2011, currently has about 50 girls and young women training over two age divisions. Funds raised from Saturday’s tournament will help send three teams to a tournament in Abbotsford, B.C. at the end of the month.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com