Junior squads cap season on winning note

The Muskie junior boys’ basketball and girls’ volleyball squads enjoyed a golden finish to their NorWOSSA seasons last Friday in Dryden.
The hoopsters, who had earned a bye to the final after finishing the regular season in top spot with a 7-1 record, jumped out to a 28-16 halftime lead en route to a 47-33 victory over the Kenora Broncos.
“[It was] excellent, they played a perfect game,” enthused head coach Dave Ashworth. “They really took it to Kenora. My guys were all over them.”
Keith McKay led the way with 14 points, followed by Kevin Gemmell (13) and Kurtis Wepruk (six).
Meanwhile, the junior spikers, who also had earned a bye to the final, disposed of the host Eagles 3-1 in their best-of-five showdown. After winning the first game 25-15, Dryden came back to take the second one 25-21.
But the Muskies iced the match–and the gold medal–by winning the next two games by identical 25-21 scores.
“We had the most exciting games because the rest were sweeps,” head coach Struchan Gilson noted Monday morning. “I expected they would win if they played well.”
Gilson said his hitters were hitting and the team was passing really well. “We gave ourselves a chance to hit,” he remarked.
He noted that with the first point the juniors won, he thought, “Oh wow, we are awake.” Gilson also said the team had to overcome some bad line calls.
“But you have to work around bad calls,” he reasoned.
He said he also had an interesting mix with three rookies and veterans playing on the court.
“The young kids moved a lot,” he said. “We moved, and you can’t play a sport if you don’t move.”
Gilson was quick to commend all the girls on the team for doing an awesome job but highlighted Sarah Busch, Kelly Kabatay, and Malorie Chowan as hitting well.
He added the junior team will be extremely strong next year since not too many players will be moving up to the senior level.