Victory was sweet for the Peacock Toilers senior girls basketball team last night at the city final at Saskatchewan Polytechnic.

The Toilers won 56-49 over the Central Cyclones to take their 10th consecutive girls crown after an undefeated season.

“It feels really amazing to be back in this environment,” said Peacock senior forward Anna Maelde. “I really missed it and the energy and the fans. It felt amazing.”

With both team playign solid, close checking defence, the Toilers and Cyclones battled back and forth in the game but it was the Toilers’ ability to get just a few more of their shots in that was the difference.

“Our coaches put in a lot of effort, we put in a lot of effort to make our team successful. And I think it pays off, as we can see,” Maelde said. “And I want to thank our coaches and all my teammates for such a wonderful Grade 12 season.”

Maelde led the Toilers with 25 points in the game, and Caitlyn Miller added 12.

Toilers head coach Penny Maelde credited the leadership of the seniors and their ability to not panic, and talked about the legacy of winning 10 titles in a row.

“I think we have a really strong legacy at Peacock, and I think that everybody that comes on to this team, or is a member of this team, they look at that, and that becomes what they want for their team” said coach Maelde.

Central head coach Bryan Adams was happy with how his team played.

“The program looks in really good shape,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of work in three years. We’ve got some really good juniors, we’ve got some great kids coming back, and we only lose three Grade 12s, so we have high hopes.”

Adams credited Peacock for making the shots when they needed to. And he was proud of that defence.

“We try to be a very good defensive team and we did tonight,” he said. “They hit three threes with a second left on the shot clock, but they missed a bunch of shots with a second left on the shot clock, too. We took them right down to that shot clock. You can’t ask much more of your kids.”

Alexa Watterson led the Cyclones with 15 points in the game, and Malea Kletzel added 11.