Skip to content

Mustangs win home tournament

Home season debut for Mustangs results in senior girls basketball team winning Mustang Mania
12285pentictonMustangMania
Princess Margaret Mustangs Callan Cooper (4) battles for the ball with J.L. Crowe Hawks' Alle Atkinson during their first game in the Mustang Mania senior girls basketball tournament last weekend. The Mustangs won the tournament against the Sa-Hali Sabres of Kamloops.

The Princess Margaret senior girls basketball team avenged a December loss against the Sa-Hali Sabres with a 47-43 win over the Kamloops team.

The victory Saturday evening helped the hosts clinch their Mustang Mania tournament on the weekend. Sharp shooting helped the Mustangs build a 10-point lead, but Sa-Hali clawed their way back and managed to get ahead by one point late in the match.

Key baskets from Madison Winter, Megan Admussen-Blair and Danielle Ruocco, who hit two key free throws sewed up the win late.  Admussen-Blair and Ruocco led the Mustangs with 12 points, while Erin Gabriel and Taylor Corrie each dropped six.

Mustangs coach Dave Killick said the tournament finale was good, especially with his team shooting as hot as they were.  The Sabres, ranked sixth in B.C., are a well-coached team, said Killick.

“They always play with lots of intensity,” he said.

What helped the Mustangs win was the play in their own zone, said Mustangs co-coach Jeff Goodis.

“We played really good team defence, taking away Sa-Hali’s running game and really doing a good job of rebounding at the defensive end and limiting Sa-Hali’s scoring chances,” said Goodis.

Killick said the tournament win, especially against Sa-Hali, was important because the Sabres are going to be a team they have to beat to advance past the valley championship.

“It shows that we’re competitive with them,” said Killick. “At the same time, it wasn’t an easy victory. We’re going to have to work our butts off the next three weeks to make sure that when we face them again that we come out on top.”

Winter said the tournament win is a sign they are improving.

“Our goal is provincials and this win helped,” said Winter.

Princess Margaret opened Mustang Mania with a 67-28 win against the J.L. Crowe Hawks from Trail. Admussen–Blair led with 17 points, while Corrie drained 14 points and Callan Cooper 10.

The Mustangs put themselves into the final by downing College Heights of Prince George 68-46. Admussen-Blair was an offensive machine with 28 points, while Ruocco collected 12.  Corrie sunk eight points while Jaquelyn Ford knocked down six.

The Mustangs are off to Vancouver this weekend to play in York House’s 26th street tournament.  Killick said this will be an important weekend as seven of the top 10 teams in the province will be competing.

“That will give us a good indication of where we stack up against some of the better teams from the Lower Mainland,” said Killick.