Neither local team got a taste of the championship game on Saturday, but both Peacock and Central are walking away with strong showings at the 2018 Moose Jaw Invitational Senior Girls Basketball Tournament.

The Toilers ended up finishing in fifth place out of 16 teams after beating the North Battleford Comp. Vikings, 53-45, to close out the tournament on Saturday night.

The Cyclones took a 13th place finish after closing things out with a 54-43 win over the Meath Park Mustangs.

“It was a good game (to finish on),” said Central coach Tianna Adams. “We usually come in the third and fourth quarters, but the last two games of this tournament, we’ve shown in the second quarter and done some nice things, we didn’t have any holes to dig ourselves out of and we could chip away at their defence.”

The tournament was won by the Prince Albert Carlton Crusaders on Saturday night when up ended the Melfort Comets, 48-45, in the championship game.  Estevan took third place with an 82-42 win over Swift Current.

Peacock's Megan MacDonald lets a shot go in traffic under the rim during the Toilers' meeting with North Battleford on Saturday at the Moose Jaw Invitational. (Photo: Marc Smith)

Peacock’s only loss over the three days of the tournament came against Melfort in the championship quarterfinals on Friday night.

“It was a very good look at the competition (around the province),” said Peacock coach Craig McDougall. “We lost to Melfort, that was a rematch of the provincial final last year, we came out with a lot of nerves and didn’t play great in the first half, but we competed with them in the second half, so that was good for us and it was a really good tournament for us.”

The Toilers would bounce back after that loss and finish the tournament with a pair of wins on Saturday, knocking off Prince Albert St. Mary, 56-52, in the morning and then taking out North Battleford at night to finish in fifth place.

“We’re really happy,” said McDougall. “We finished off the final game well, we kind of let them back into it at the start of the third quarter, but I’m real proud of them for coming back and finishing the game off strong.”

Peacock was missing one of their top scorers for the final game as guard Piper Ingalls sat out with an illness. Senior guard Katherine McDougall didn’t leave the court during the game to help fill that hole.

Craig McDougall said that everyone stepped into different roles and came through, “All the girls on the bench stepped up and it was a team effort for sure,” he said.

“Kennedy (Ward) was hitting some big threes, she was shooting well this weekend from three and that really helped us in a couple of our games, and overall everybody stepped up.”

Central opened the tournament with a loss to Regina Miller on Thursday, dropping them down to the consolation side. They would lose a close game to the Yorkton Raiders on Friday afternoon, falling 50-43.

The Cyclones close strong though with a 64-38 win over Meadow Lake on Saturday morning and then the win over Meath Park to close things out.

“Overall, the girls really came to play in the last two games,” said Adams. “We can compete with all these teams, it just comes down whether or we come out to play.”

In their final game against Meath Park, Central really controlled the ball well and played a strong game offensively. Adams said that was a good showing from the team.

“If we keep the ball moving than there’s going to be some openings and it took us throwing the ball away a few times and then we made some good choices,” she said.

Central will be right back on the court on Tuesday night when they head out to Caronport to face the Cougars.  Peacock is off from league play until Feb. 6 when they host Assiniboia.

The Central Cyclones' senior boys team after winning the Melfort Invitational over the weekend. (Submitted photo)

Central Boys Win in Melfort

The Central Cyclones’ senior boys squad won their third tournament of the year over the weekend as they captured the Melfort Invitational for the second year in a row.

Central rolled to a 102-82 win over the Weyburn Eagles in the championship game on Saturday.

Jaxson Brownell had a huge game in the win, leading the Cyclones with a career-high 44 points. Kyle Boughen added 13 points to help lead Central to the tournament victory.

Central had opened the tournament with a 99-37 win over Birch Hills and then followed that up with a 74-55 victory over Prince Albert Carlton in the semifinals.

The Cyclones will look to build off the tournament win when they head to Caronport on Tuesday to face the Cougars.