Two teams kept their perfect record intact to end the season at the YSAA Elementary Basketball Championships on Saturday at Porter Creek Secondary.
The Elijah Smith Eagles went undefeated in the girls side of the tournament and the Holy Family Hurricanes went undefeated on the boys side.
Both teams went undefeated all season long.
“I think what makes them a winning team is they all come with a positive attitude,” said Eagles head coach Erin Pauls. “They work hard, they try their best and they treat their teammates with respect. So we’re able to collaborate as a team.”
“We don’t have a best player, we are even,” said Hurricanes coach Don Harding. “All 10 of these guys scored. We don’t have one person who we go to all the time. I have 10 balanced guys. They all play well together and play as a team.
“That was our goal: be unselfish with the ball, support each other - and jump, because we’re small.”
The Hurricanes took the gold with a 26-11 win over the Jack Hulland Hawks in the final.
“We’re one of the shortest teams in the league, but we’re one of the fastest,” said Harding. “They really played hard, played disciplined. We change our game quite often, according to who we play, and the guys responded.”
The Hurricanes jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the final. Hawks’ Darcy La Rochelle ended the streak, storming the key to make it 8-2.
Holy Family’s Daniel Kim led his team with nine points while teammates Adrien Robinson and Arshia Shoshtari each had six points.
The same team has demonstrated its prowess on the volleyball court as well.
The Hurricanes went undefeated in the Grade 7 league and won the Yukon Elementary Volleyball Championships in November.
So what sport will Holy Family dominate next? “Badminton,” said Harding, without missing a beat.
The Eagles won the girls title with a 30-17 win over a mixed team of Holy Family, Hidden Valley and one player from Whitehorse Elementary.
Down 8-6, the Eagles tied the game on a lay-up from Alice Frost-Hanberg and took the lead on a basket from Jayden Demchuk, pushing back an offensive rebound.
“The girls worked really hard, they are really dedicated,” said Pauls. “I’m really proud of their sportsmanship behaviour and positive attitude throughout the whole season.”
Demchuk led her team with 10 points in the final while teammate Frost-Hanberg had six.
“They were all really wonderful; it would be hard to choose one,” said Pauls. “But if I could, Jayden Demchuk did a wonderful job.
“But they work together as a team. Lots of the time during the season they’d all be scoring baskets.”
In both bronze medal games, for boys and girls, Christ the King beat Whitehorse Elementary School. The girls game was particularly close with Christ the King winning 12-11.
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com