Lucas Punkari
The Muskie senior girls’ basketball team also was in Thunder Bay last weekend for a tournament hosted by the Winston Churchill Trojans, with the black-and-gold sharing the consolation title with Dryden.
“We were in a position where both us and Dryden would have played in the consolation final, but we decided that we would play Westgate and they would play Superior instead as we both hadn’t played those teams yet,” Muskie head coach Dan Bird explained.
“It’s nice to go out and play for a title, but we thought that it was more beneficial to play a different team than someone that we have faced already,” he reasoned.
After losing their opening game to the eventual runner-up Hammarskjold Vikings on Friday afternoon, the Muskies beat Superior and then upended Westgate on Saturday in the consolation bracket to finish the tourney with a 2-1 record.
“Even though the final score against Hammarskjold would have indicated a lopsided loss, we played a great and very disciplined game,” Bird stressed.
“Against Superior, we did win by a double-digit score, but it was a sloppy game as we played down from what we had in our previous game against Hammarskjold.
“But we were much more disciplined against Westgate as we were able to stop their fast-break and we buried our shots on offence,” he added.
The senior Muskies remain winless in NorWOSSA play, however, following a 48-29 loss to the Eagles here last Thursday.
“Dryden out-hustled us,” Bird conceded. “They just dominated and they were moving their feet in the first quarter, and that was the difference.
“We just weren’t executing what we have been practising, and that has been the story of our season to this point,” he lamented.
Sarah Bagacki and Adriane Gurski each had five points to lead the Muskies.
But even though they’ve yet to win a league game, the black-and-gold feel they are heading in the right direction as the NorWOSSA playoffs draws closer, which will be held Nov. 8 in Kenora.
“Having a strong showing at the tournament is really important for us,” Bagacki stressed.
“We are able to clean things up and work things out, and that will help us get better in our league games to get us ready for the finals.”
