The Mount Baker Secondary Junior Girls basketball team were favourites to win their home tournament this weekend and they delivered in a big way.
Playing at the MBSS gymnasium on Friday and Saturday, the Wild marched their way to four straight wins in a very successful event for local schools.
The 10-team tournament included high school junior team representatives from Sparwood, Fernie, Grand Forks, Golden, Kimberley and Creston as well as the Jaffray Junior Secondary team and Cranbrook’s Parkland and Laurie Middle Schools.
In addition to Mount Baker’s championship win over Jaffray, Parkland won the bronze medal game and Laurie made the finals of the consolation bracket.
The weekend kicked off on Friday morning with Mount Baker defeating Laurie 88-19, setting them up for a second-round game against Creston’s Prince Charles Secondary. Winning that game 82-33, the Wild faced the Fernie Secondary Falcons in the semi-finals and won 68-18.
Jaffray, meanwhile, opened their tournament with a 75-19 win over the Golden Secondary Eagles and then beat Kimberley’s Selkirk Secondary 96-13 and Parkland 50-11.
The Wild proved themselves to be the superior team early in Saturday night’s final game and built up a 20-0 lead before surrendering their first basket to Jaffray. Going into the second half with a 35-8 advantage, the Wild were challenged slightly, but still closed out with a 60-23 victory.
Parkland, meanwhile, met up with Fernie in the bronze-medal game and squeaked out an entertaining 34-31 win.
Already proving they can be competitive with the top teams in B.C. after earning a silver medal at a prestigious tournament in Kelowna in January, the Wild play in Calgary next weekend before heading to the Provincial Championship tournament from February 28 to March 3.
