They say all good things must end, but the Lord Selkirk Royals Varsity Girls Basketball Team hopes to do a little more winning before the season is put to rest.
On Feb. 10, it was Senior Night in Selkirk, with the boys’ and girls’ varsity teams playing against the West Kildonan Wolverines.
The nine seniors on the girl’s team each received individual crowd introductions and a bouquet of flowers in honour of their final regular season home game wearing the Royals’ purple and silver.
The game itself turned out quite fitting, as the Royals stormed out to a 64-34 win over the Wolverines to collect their fourth win of the regular season. With the win, Selkirk jumped into seventh place in KPAC.
“It was the last home game of the regular season and our Senior Night so our kids were pretty pumped up,” said Royals coach Amanda Hallson. “We’re also coming off a road trip; we were out in Brandon on the weekend, so having those four games together as well, we’re kind of playing really in sync with each other at the moment. The more the team plays together the better they are and so that really helped us come out against an opponent where I thought the game would be closer than it was but we were really on with our defence and transition game so I was very proud of the girls and the way they played.”
Allison Beattie, Payton Bragg, Aiden Dolenuk, Kelsey Erickson, Isabelle Fey, Ashley Gidilewich, Julia Gidilewich, Taylor-May Jacyk, and Danika Jakabek are the nine grade 12’s that were honoured at the game.
Eight of them were on the Royals squad that won the KPAC Tier 2 championship last year after an incredible playoff run.
This year, the same group has taken their game to a new level in the newly formed KPAC, which is now a tier-less league consisting of multiple teams from last year’s KPAC Tier 2 and multiple other top teams from Winnipeg.
All in all, it’s made for a tougher league, but it’s also an exciting new challenge that they are finding success in, especially recently.
“They have grown a lot together as a group. They’ve got some really good chemistry so they work well together and the more games we play the better they get,” said Hallson.
Hallson also highlighted the successful season that Jacyk is having for the Royals in her grade 12 season.
Jacyk has scored 25 points or more in the Royals’ last three games and recorded an impressive 32 points in their 66-41 victory over Portage Collegiate in the Crocus Plains Varsity Java Jam Tournament Round-Robin on Feb. 7.
With three grade 11’s and one grade 10 also on the team, playing alongside the Royals seniors has helped them develop their game.
The program should be in good hands with those four eligible to return next season.
“Our grade 11’s and ten have really done a lot of learning and they are still kind of developing and working on stuff but they are getting the chance to play with some really good players and that opportunity helps you lift your game up,” said Hallson. “When you play with good competition and with good players your game gets better and you start thinking more and seeing more out there. That has helped them develop more as players on the floor.”
With two more regular season games left and potentially another exciting playoffs, the four will get the chance to experience their first playoffs at the varsity level.
The seniors already know what it takes to make a lengthy playoff run, so they hope to bring that championship pedigree with them into the postseason.
“Having eight that played on that team last year that made a solid playoff push and went to a Tier 2 championship has really translated well this year,” said Hallson. “Just in the fact that they know each other, they know their strengths, and they’ve played really well and so they understand coming down the stretch in February that this is the time you need to really be on your game. They get that and it’s played to our strengths as well.”
The Royals will close out the regular season on the road against Kildonan-East on Monday, Feb. 24 at 6 p.m.
Next up is this Wednesday in River East against the Kodiaks at 7:30 p.m.
