Three teams, three titles for NACI
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, February 28, 2017
By Eoin Devereux
The Neepawa Press/Neepawa Banner
A trifecta of basketball titles have been claimed by the NACI Tigers. On Tuesday, Feb. 21, the junior varsity boys squad capped off a solid season with an equally impressive 59-45 win over the William Morton Warriors. The next day, the varsity boys and girls would also pick up zone championship banners, with 68-59 and 54-45 victories respectively.
In the JV final, the Tigers faced a difficult foe in the William Morton Warriors. Ben Perrett helped to put Neepawa ahead early, as he scored 13 points in the first half. That helped push the Tigers into a comfortable 37-11 lead after the first half. In the second half, the Warriors were able to claw back some of the points they trailed by, but simply couldn’t overcome the early deficit. L. Kennedy lead the way for William Morton, with 15 points in the second, for a total of 22 points on the night. Despite the impressive second half effort by William Morton, Neepawa was still able to cruise to the 59-45 win.
The next day, it was the varsity squads chance to claim titles, as the girl’s team played a home game against the Elton Sabers, while the boys travelled to MacGregor to take on the Mustangs.
In Neepawa, the girls’ game started off extremely even, as the Tigers and Sabers traded chances. Joanna Plaza and Marissa Crook lead the way early for NACI, with seven and six points apiece, but found themselves trailing by a point at the half, with the score 24-23 for Elton.
In the third quarter, NACI’s Plaza took control with nine of NACI’s 15 points and helped push the Tigers into a 38-33 heading into the fourth quarter.
In the final 10 minutes of regulation, Neepawa simply kept pace with Elton and didn’t allow them any easy opportunities at the basket. But at the same time, the Tigers played smart, not getting into foul trouble and letting the Sabers climb back via the free throw line. Once the game clock ran down, it was NACI who held on to the 54-45 win. This championship was extra special for the varsity girls in that they’d lost about a half dozen players from the previous season and looked at 2016-2017 as a possible rebuilding year.
As the varsity girls picked up their championship on their home court, the varsity boys would find themselves looking for a title and some retribution against MacGregor on the road. In their first game of the regular season, the Tigers had lost to the Mustangs 68-45. That was NACI’s only loss of the year. In this rematch, NACI would start strong and continued to press throughout all four quarters to claim the 68-59 win.
