The Grand Forks Secondary School basketball teams took to home court on Friday and Saturday for the first tournament of the season.
According to senior girls’ coach Riley Friesen, both teams had two and one records, “which is great for their first games of the season and with only two weeks of practices under our belts.”
For the senior girls basketball team, in the Grand Forks (51) versus Osoyoos (29) matchup, rookie and player of the game Audrey Areshenkoff led the pack with 14 points, Kelsa Leslie (Grade 11) added 10 points and tournament MVP Tara Makortoff (Grade 12) contributed eight points.
When the same team faced George Elliot from Winfield winning 56 to 24, Audrey Areshenkoff drained 16 points, with point guard and player of the game Emily Stewart adding 13 and Kiyomi Dunnet contributing a healthy 10 points.
The final game of the weekend was Grand Forks versus Heritage Christian School from Kelowna, and the home team lost 44 to 58. In a hard fought battle against a potential top 10 ranked team, player of the game Kelsa Leslie lead the charge with an incredible 17 points, Audrey Areshenkoff added nine and rookie Hanna Kiselbach contributed seven.
The senior boys teams also performed well over the weekend. In the Grand Forks (104) versus Osoyoos (115) matchup, the first game was a battle for the ages. The boys didn’t give up and fought to the bitter end. One single player on Osoyoos contributed 62 points for his team. The team’s results were a collaborative effort with Riley Leighton (Grade 12) leading the team with 24 points and player of the game Tanner Remo (Grade 12), despite being injured and unable to play the fourth, contributing 23 points!
In the Grand Forks (79) versus Nakusp (48) game, player of the game and rookie Liam Fraser (Grade 11) drained 21 points for the boys, with tournament MVP and rookie Willie Henne (Grade 11) adding 15 points.
In Grand Forks (84) versus Heritage Christian School from Kelowna (49), Liam Fraser drained 26 points while player of the game Riley Leighton contributed a solid 19 and rookie Mehki Dolan (Grade 11) added a healthy 16 points.
All the athletes played well and the coaches couldn’t be more proud of their efforts and commitment to their teammates and school. The teams send a huge thank you to the fans, basketball parents without whom we would never be able to pull of such a successful tournament, to the GFSS custodial staff for always being so accommodating and helpful, to athletic director Jamie McKaig for setting up a great draw and to Save On Foods for their generous donations. Go Wolves!