Playing on their home court Feb. 22, the Maple Grove Education Centre Panthers defeated Northeast Kings Education Centre from Canning 43-22 in junior high girls basketball to secure a berth in the western regional championships.
The regionals will be held at Evangeline Middle School in New Minas Feb. 27.
Ellie Hiltz led Maple Grove scorers against NKEC with 17 points and teammate Zoe Schwan had 13. Janaya Hiltz had seven.
The Panthers thought they had clinched a spot in the regionals two days earlier, on Feb. 20, when they defeated Barrington at home 35-20, but because Maple Grove and Barrington were the only teams competing for the Yarmouth/Shelburne district, Northeast Kings had challenged Maple Grove for a berth in the regional championships.
So NKEC, which had placed third in its own district tournament, made the trip to Hebron to take on the Panthers on Feb. 22, but Maple Grove prevailed with a 21-point win, thereby securing their berth in the regionals after all.
Vikings’ season over
A week after their trip to Cape Breton for the Coal Bowl Classic basketball tournament, the Yarmouth Consolidated Memorial High School boys took part in the Division 1 western regional championships, where their season came to an end with an overtime loss to Avon View.
Heading into the Feb. 16-17 regionals – which were hosted by Horton District High School – the Vikings were ranked second in the western region behind the host Griffins, with Avon View seeded third, but when Yarmouth and Avon View squared off in the regionals, the Windsor school won it 85-76 in OT.
Matt MacPherson and Dylan Smith were the top Viking scorers, each netting 23 points.
The same two teams had faced each other Feb. 5 in the opening game of the Coal Bowl tournament in New Waterford, where the Vikings were 75-56 winners.
Yarmouth went 2-2 in its four Coal Bowl games while Avon View went 0-4.
Meanwhile, in the western regionals at Horton, the host Griffins went on to take the title, defeating Avon View 81-47 in the championship game.
The 2017-2018 basketball season is over for both the YCMHS boys and girls. The Yarmouth girls fell to Horton in the regionals, putting an end to their campaign.
