The Hesquiaht Storm managed to live up to its pre-tournament expectations. The girls' basketball squad advanced to the championship game of the B.C. Junior All Native Championships.
The Storm, however, was defeated 63-45 by Kitimaat in the championship final of the tournament, which concluded this past Friday in New Aiyansh.
Another area team, Ahousaht's Maaqtusiis Magic, made it to the boys' final. The Magic though was downed 100-65 by the Skidegate Saints, who won their second consecutive provincial title.
The five-day tournament, featuring players 17 and under, attracted 23 girls' teams and 24 boys' entrants.
Storm coach Geno John said his charges accomplished exactly what he thought they would.
“My expectation was to reach as far as we did,” he said. “And we went to the finals undefeated.”
The tournament primarily featured a double-knockout format, meaning squads had to lose two games before they were eliminated.
But once there were only two clubs remaining, the championship final was a winner-take-all format. As a result, the Hesquiaht side had to settle for second place following its loss to Kitimaat, even though that was its only setback at the tournament.
The Storm ended up winning its first four games to advance to the final. This included a 49-47 victory over Kitimaat, a day before the final.
Despite beating Kitimaat a day earlier, John said his team could not duplicate this success in the final.
“They attacked our main scorers knowing they had a size advantage over our players,” John said of the Kitimaat players.
The Kitimaat squad included two players who were 6-feet tall. As for the Storm players, they ranged in height from 5-foot-4 to 5-foot-9.
The Hesquiaht club managed to improve upon its third-place finish from last year's provincial tournament, which was held in Port Alberni.
“What I told myself is that it's a learning process every year,” said John, who is in his second season of coaching this team. “My goal is to finish first next year.”
The 2014 tournament will be staged in Kamloops.
The Storm received an opening-round bye in this year's event because of its Top 3 finish a year ago.
John said the bye was advantageous to his side. That's because some clubs had already played two games and were eliminated from further play before the Storm took to the court for its first match.
Besides giving his players some rest early on, the bye enabled John to also do some scouting on opposing teams.
“It gave me a chance to see who our competitors were coming out of our bracket,” he said.
Like the Magic, the Storm also played five matches at the provincials. The Ahousaht-based team won three of these contests. Both of its losses though were against the powerhouse Saints.
Skidegate also convincingly defeated the Magic 79-38 a day before the final.
“You could tell they were much more experienced,” Magic coach Travis Thomas said of the Saints.
Thomas was confident his side would fare well at the tournament.
“I thought we were going to be in the Top 3,” he said.
Thomas also knew his club needed a bit more seasoning before it could seriously challenge for the provincial crown.
“They're really young still,” he said of his players. “They all have a year or two left (in junior competition).”
All 14 of the players that were on the Magic roster are eligible to return for next year's championships.
The two losses against the Saints marked the first time the Magic had tasted defeat this season.
"Around here (on the island) they can beat everybody by 40 points," Thomas said. "This was their first challenge this year."
