Moose Jaw high schools will be well represented in the 4A classification at Hoopla in Regina after finding plenty of success during this past weekend’s regional tournaments.

The Peacock boys and girls clinched their spots at provincials with wins on their home court on Saturday, while the Central boys did the same.

Toiler Girls Heading Back to Hoopla

The Peacock Toiler girls will get the chance to defend their Hoopla title after picking up a 65-23 win over the Meadow Lake Carpenter Spartans in the 4A Girls regional final on Saturday.

The Toilers are the three-time defending provincial champions.

“It feels really good to get to Hoopla for all three years that I’ve played senior ball,” said Shelby Olson, one of just two grade 12s on the Toilers.

“This year we have a really young team, so it was more of a battle to get there for sure. It feels really good to get back again.”

Olson led the Toilers with 14 points in the win, while Kennedy Ward chipped in with ten points and Abby Busch had nine. All the Toiler players that played in the game picked up at least four points in the win.

Peacock started slow in the first quarter, but were able to get rolling late in the quarter and pushed their lead to 36-13 by halftime. They held the Spartans to just ten points in the second half.

“We turned the ball over early and you can’t score if you don’t have the ball, so we talked about that and made some subs,” said Peacock head coach Vaughn Crone.

The Toilers tend to get their offence going through defence and that was the case against Meadow Lake as Peacock was able to get rolling after getting stops on the defensive end.

“We talk about boxing out, limiting teams to one shot and done, that’s a big part of our success,” said Crone. “That’s what it will be next weekend, you get one look at the basket and we’re going to box you out, and that gives us an opportunity to compete.”

Peacock will now face North Battleford Comp. in the 4A Girls provincial semifinal at Hoopla on Friday. North Battleford Comp. advanced with an 80-30 win over the Central Cyclones in their regional tournament on Saturday.

The other semifinal will have Melfort squaring off with Weyburn.

Toiler Boys Cruise into Provincials

The Peacock Toiler boys followed in the girls footsteps and secured their spot at Hoopla with an 83-44 win over Yorkton Sacred Heart in the 4A Boys regional final at Peacock on Saturday.

This will be Peacock’s first trip to Hoopla since playing in the 5A tournament in 2015.

“We didn’t make it last year, so this feels real good,” said Peacock grade 11 Jett Kowalchuk. “We worked hard and it feels good to be heading there.”

Kowalchuk paced the Toilers’ offence with 23 points in the win. Riley Herridge added 12 and Park Andrews chipped in with ten points for Peacock.

The game was close in the first quarter with Peacock holding a slim 15-11 advantage after one, but the Toilers really got rolling in the second quarter as they pushed their lead to 14 points at halftime.

Peacock extended that lead to 27 points by the end of the third quarter.

“We just got in the flow of our game,” said Kowalchuk. “It was a little bit tough coming out here at the start and eventually we just started hitting our shots.”

The Toilers’ size really played into their advantage as they picked up a number of offensive rebounds to go along with their stiff defence.

“The guys just stayed consistent, we pushed it inside to our big guys and went hard to the bucket and they pulled it out for us,” said Toilers’ head coach Dave Roney.

After losing in the city final to Central on Tuesday, Roney was happy with the way that the team responded over the weekend.

“Our team goal was to get to Hoopla and play for a championship, so that’s where we are now, so we’re on track,” said Roney.

Cyclones Returning to Hoopla

Coming off a city championship win on Tuesday, the Central Cyclones were able to keep it rolling into the 4A Boys regional tournament on their home court this past weekend.

Central knocked off the Meadow Lake Carpenter Spartans, 85-61, in the regional final on Saturday afternoon.

“It feels great, this is my first time going to Hoopla,” said Senior Jonah Branning, who had seven points in the win. “All the boys are excited because they’re young and hopefully we do good.

“Last year, we didn’t get as far as we wanted to, but this year after winning cities, it gave us a lot of momentum and we hope to take that to provincials.”

Central senior Ryan Reidy led the way with 19 points in the win, while Cody Moore had 13 points and Jaxson Brownell finished with ten. 12 of the 13 players found the scoresheet for the Cyclones in the win.

Head coach Ryan Boughen said the team was a bit off to start the game, but that’s where their depth comes in handy.

“We started a certain way today, but we made some changes because some guys weren’t at their best and other guys stepped up,” said Boughen. “We can go eight, nine, ten guys deep, so that’s huge for us.”

The Cyclones led 40-27 at halftime and were able to continue to push the pace throughout the second half.

Boughen said it all starts at the defensive end for them.

“A lot of our stuff comes out of stops, if we get a good stop than we run,” he said. “We’re running some set plays, but we’re better attacking off stops, that’s more our style of play, so playing at one end feeds the other end.”

The Cyclones will now have a city final rematch with the Toilers in the 4A Boys provincial semifinal at Hoopla on Friday.

The Vanier Vikings almost made it three local teams at Hoopla as they lost 72-70 to Saskatoon Bedford Road in the regional final on Saturday. Saskatoon will now square off with Weyburn in the other semifinal.