Warriors show grit and determination at NWOSSA Championship

Tim Brody - Editor

“We battled. We knew what we were up against, and we knew we had to come out ready to move, ready to run with them and we did,” Sioux North High School (SNHS) Senior Boys Basketball Coach Shawn Hordy said of his team’s efforts in the NWOSSA “AA” Basketball Championship hosted by SNHS Feb. 20 and 21.
The SNHS Warriors put forth a strong effort but were defeated 53-40 in game one and 62-44 in game two of the best of three championship series against the visiting Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute Tigers.
The Warriors had a strong first half in game one, leading the Tigers 27-23 at the end of the first quarter.
“We took it to them in the first half yesterday, they hung around, they managed to pull ahead just a little and that was the difference yesterday,” Hordy said. “Today, they came out strong. We answered the battle, brought it back, they had another little push and unfortunately our push was a little too late in this game today,” he shared.
Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute Senior Boys Basketball Head Coach Cory Keeler said the Warriors were a tough opponent.
“Number one, they’re well coached. I’ve known the coach, I’ve coached him, he coached with me, but like I said, they played hard. Both sides played really hard. I think our bench, we had a little more bench I think, and after a while that kind of wore on them a bit. They were tough games. We’d played them previously about a month and a half ago or so, and they were both very good games, tough games, so we knew it was going to be a challenge coming into a new place, crowd, everyone’s hyped up and nerves, that sort of stuff.”
“They play defensively so strong. They move the ball really well. On offensive, they find the open guy and hit their open shots, but their defense is what wins them games,” Hordy said of the Tigers team.
The Tigers were especially strong at stealing and gaining possession of the ball, “We work on that. We work on team defense. I think sometimes we get ourselves a little out of control and I think we had a really solid third quarter. Near the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth we were kind of rushing things when we didn’t really need to,” Keeler said.
The Tigers will move on to compete at OFSAA, the provincial championship.
Reflecting on the team’s season, going undefeated during the regular season and winning the NORWOSSA Championship, Hordy said, “We’re from a small town, small school, to be able to put together a group of boys that can go battle with larger schools from places like Thunder Bay, that’s an amazing feat and I’m sure we made all the parents and fans proud here.”
“We have lots of good things to look forward to next year. Lots of returning players as well,” he said.
SNHS Athletic Director Jason MacMillan shared, “For our students, it’s just such a good experience for them to be in that high competition level they’ve had with Westgate the last couple of days. Just for them to experience what’s the path beyond NorWOSSA and then ongoing. It was a great atmosphere here at Sioux North. We had a lot of support from our fans, our past students, our alumni, our parents as well, so it was a really great environment to work in.”
This was Sioux North High School’s first time competing in NWOSSA basketball at the “AA” level.