Vikings blow away Cyclones to book Hoopla ticket

Moose Jaw defeated Meadow Lake 65-23 in their regional game on Saturday.

But Peacock’s star forward Macaela Crone, who has committed to NCAA Div. I program Louisiana Tech for next season, is out with a knee injury and NBCHS has also already beaten them this year by 20 points. That win came in the Peacock’s home tournament in January.

“We beat them so the confidence is there to move forward. We’re ready to go,” Cottini said. “Their starting lineup is strong. They’ve got some good little point guards there. We have our work cut out for us.”

In Saturday’s game, Cottini was the most pleased with the play of his centres and forwards.

“They have a really tall girl on their team and we actually kind of exploited their strength and our post [players] took it to her,” he said. “It was a good day for our post players.”

Cottini was also able to constantly sub out his entire lineup and give all five bench players significant floor time. The result was a very balanced attack, as no player scored over 15, and six different players had at least eight points. Nahoni Tootoosis led the way with those 15 points, while Jenna Fransoo had 14 points, including three buckets from downtown.

Against the Peacocks next weekend, the bench will see less playing time, but the goal is still to have a spread out attack. Cottini believed any player has the ability to step up when called upon.

“I have a lot of confidence that whoever is open is going to take the shot and whoever is asked to perform will perform,” he said. “Our starting lineup from top to bottom is pretty solid…[and] we’re not going to lean on any one player.”

A tip-off time has not yet been set for the Hoopla semifinal game against Peacock, but it will be on Friday, March 24. If the Vikings win, they will play the winner of Melfort and Weyburn.

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

On twitter: @NathanKanter11

by Nathan Kanter

Vikings blow away Cyclones to book Hoopla ticket

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