The Caronport Cougars following their 3A girls basketball provincial championship win on Saturday. (submitted photo)

It's been an uphill battle for the Caronport Cougars throughout the season, but they reached the top over the weekend, winning the 3A girls basketball provincial championship.

Caronport topped Clavet 67-66 in a thrilling Hoopla final on Saturday night in Saskatoon to capture the second straight 3A provincial title for the Cougars.

“It had a lot of emotion,” said Leigh Wolverton, head coach of the Cougars, on the final.

Grade 11 forward Emily Koshinsky hit the game-winning shot in the final seconds of the game to propel Caronport to the win in a back-and-forth game.

“Both teams were evenly matched and we knew it was going to pretty much come down to the wire,” added Wolverton, “we were just fortunate to be the ones that came out on top.”

A strong start to the game helped set the tone for the Cougars, who opened up a 22-9 lead against top ranked Clavet after the first quarter. Clavet fought their way back over the next two quarters and sent the game into the final frame tied at 46-46.

The two teams went back-and-forth throughout the fourth quarter with Caronport finally pulling out the win with the big basket from Koshinsky with three seconds to go.

“The game was played well by both teams, sure there were mistakes, but the majority of the game was very well played,” said Wolverton. “Come away from it either winning or losing, they should have felt that they were playing their best.”

Caronport had all five starters score in double digits, led by Koshinsky, who posted a team-high 15 points, while Kennedy Kuntz had 14, Leah Hundeby added 13, Emilie Peters put in 12 and Karis Fawcett posted 11.  Charisa Kienle chipped in with four points as well.

This was the first year playing organized basketball of Koshinsky, who was the Sask Volleyball 16-and-under player of the year and helped lead Caronport to a second place finish at provincials there.

Wolverton said her development throughout the year was outstanding and was a key part of the team's success at Hoopla.

“I can't say that she's converted from volleyball, but she's a volleyball player that we talked into playing basketball,” said Wolverton. “She missed several of our tournaments and really only had half a season under her belt, but she came up with some crucial baskets and rebounds for us.

“Her height and her athleticism just really added to what we need to finish at the end here.”

The Cougars had an up and down season, but remained confident throughout the year that they could put it together at the right time and come away with a provincial title again.

“It's definitely very satisfying for the girls to be able to see the final outcome of their season,” said Wolverton. “We would have felt the same way whether we had won or lost, especially in this particular game, it could have gone either way and there was still a lot of satisfaction in the way we were able to finish.”

The Assiniboia Rockets picked up a bronze medal in 3A girls, falling to Clavet 68-39 in the semifinals on Friday and then bouncing back to top Indian Head 52-49 in the bronze medal game on Saturday.