The MUCC Senior A Girls basketball team's silver medal is their third straight medal at HOOPLA (Twitter/@CometNews).

By Aaron Schulze

MUCC MEDALS AT HOOPLA

MUCC wins silver, eyes for gold next year at HOOPLA

Apr 2, 2019 | 5:18 PM

The Melfort and Unit Comprehensive Collegiate (MUCC) Senior A Girls basketball went into Saskatoon’s HOOPLA 2019 on March 22 looking to win their third straight gold medal in the 4A division.

After a 70-49 win over Moose Jaw’s Albert E. Peacock Collegiate in the semi-finals, the MUCC girls faced North Battleford Comprehensive High School for the gold.

Unfortunately for the MUCC girls, the golden streak ended with a 71-51 loss in the finals, and they drove back home with the silver medal.

Kelly Linnell, head coach for the MUCC Senior A Girls basketball team, told northeastNOW it just wasn’t their year.

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“We had a hard time scoring against them,” Linnell said. “It was a little bit of a tougher game. Things didn’t go our way early on in the game and North Battleford played really well. Their post, offensively we couldn’t stop her and defensively she was shutting us down on the other end. They were the better team that game for sure.

“I’m really proud of the girls and how hard they worked. We didn’t give up, the girls were still fired up in the fourth quarter, and we had a little run in the fourth quarter. It wasn’t the year for us this year, it was definitely their year.”

After tasting gold for two consecutive years, Linnell said winning a silver medal is still a great accomplishment, as MUCC’s Girls didn’t qualift for HOOPLA the previous 10 years before they won their first of two straight gold medals.

“It just goes to show how hard it is to get that gold medal,” she said. “The last two years we went to HOOPLA and we won, it just seemed to fall into our hands. We’re looking for next year to continue that trend to make it back to HOOPLA again.”

HOOPLA 2019 marked the end of some careers for the MUCC Senior A Girls basketball team. Grade 12’s Alexa Hangs-Copeland, Nicole Fedorychka, Hannah Linnell, Jenna Fedusiak, and Avery South will be graduating this year. Coach Linnell’s pregame speech before the HOOPLA gold medal game was that one way or another, she was proud of them.

“I am proud of the team they are, and more importantly the people that they are,” she said. “They are great teammates, treat referees with respect, handle themselves on the court well, represent our school, show such good sportsmanship, and off the court they’re such good teammates. There’s more to life than just winning a basketball game and they know that side of things. I’m very proud to have coached them for the last six years.”

There will be changes next year. Not just with the MUCC Senior A Girls basketball roster, but also who their competition will be. Categories in the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association will be changing, with some schools currently in the 4A category moving up to 5A, and others in 3A moving up to 4A.

While she’ll enjoy the moment of watching some of the girls she’s coached for six years walk the stage at graduation, Linnell already has an eye for next season.

“We are looking at having a lot of the 4A teams at our home tournament next year to help us get ready and just to see the other teams that are out there,” she said. “The Grade 11’s I have going into Grade 12 are obviously going to be looking to go back to HOOPLA, get to the gold medal game and have a chance to win it all again. I think I have potential with the younger girls coming up that it’s a possibility, so that’s our goal for next year.”

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca