The FG Miller Crusaders got an extra bounce to their step this past weekend, winning silver at their first basketball tournament of the season during the St. Paul Regional Saints’ Tazmania Invitational.
Sixteen teams from the local area including St. Paul, Elk Point, Mallaig and Ashmont, as well as teams from Vermilion, Fort McMurray and Edmonton, descended on Glen Avon and Regional School courts over Friday and Saturday, leading up to the final matches with the Crusader girls playing Fort McMurray Composite for gold, and two Fort McMurray schools competing for the boys’ gold.
Crusaders coach Madi Novakowski said her girls had yet to have had a St. Paul Athletic Association (SPAA) game, and that the tournament gave them their first game and first win of the season. While the Crusaders put in a solid effort, the Miners would hold on to a strong lead and finish the game 60-40.
Last year, the Crusaders team only had five players, and this year, it boasts 10 players, and Novakowski said it was great for those 10 players to start the basketball season on a high note with a second-place finish.
“I think it’s a good confidence booster for my team,” she said, adding, “I think it’s going to be a good season. We have a good team, so I’m pretty excited.
Battling for third place were the Saints taking on the Ashmont Falcons, with the Saints winning the match, 45-29.
The boy Saints would also play in the match for third place, against Louis St. Laurent from Edmonton. While the Saints battled to close the Barons’ lead to within 15 points, the Barons blew open the doors in the final minutes of the fourth quarter to finish 30 points ahead of the competition.
“Obviously you’d like our teams to be in the final at least, but sometimes it doesn’t work that way,” said Brandon Strocki, Saints’ assistant coach and one of the organizers for the tournament.
On the positive side, the Saints girls and boys managed to win both of their first games in front of their home crowd, he noted, and developed their skills in facing off against formidable teams.
“Our competition was really good this year; there were a lot of strong teams,” said Strocki. He noted this is the first time in a while that the Tazmania basketball tournament has drawn teams from the city, a trend which he hopes to see expand in the future.
“The better teams you can draw into your tournament, the better your tournament is.”
