MHSAA 2024 Dairy Farmers AAAA Basketball Championships

MHSAA 2024 Dairy Farmers AAAA Basketball Championships

Congratulations goes out Collège Garden City Collegiate JV girls basketball team who defeated Vincent Massey Winnipeg in the AAAA provincial finals last night with a score of 70-45. Seva Brar and Elayah Pete werenamed provincial all stars and Kiley Schettler is this year’s Most Valuable Player. Congratulations on all your successes this season.

GIRLS JV AAAA PROVINCIAL ALL-STAR & MVP

All-Stars:
Emma Elliott – College Jeanne Sauve 
Emma Vard – Vincent Massey 
Uloma Isinguzo – Vincent massey 
Seva Brar – Garden City 
Elayah Pete – Garden City

MVP: Kiley Schetter – Garden City

BOYS JV AAAA PROVINCIAL ALL-STAR & MVP

All-Stars: 
Riley Guieb – Garden City
Knox Smith – Vincent Massey Brandon
Landon Mangaron – Sisler 
Sam Opanubi – St. Pauls
Tamir Zeid – St. Pauls

MVP: Jacob Medina – Sisler

PLAYER AWARDS – GIRLS

Dairy Farmers of Manitoba Players Choice Award:
Avneet Kainth, Maples Collegiate

MVP:
Izzi Fust, Dakota Lancers

All-Stars:
Darya Rom, Dakota Lancers
Madison Schettler, Garden City Gophers
Amira Lawrence, Garden City Gophers
Paige Schatkowsky, Vincent Massey Trojans
Ava Shaw, Daniel McIntyre Maroons

PLAYER AWARDS – BOYS

Dairy Farmers of Manitoba Players Choice Award:
Blake Penner, Dakota Lancers

MVP:
Chris Piotrowski, Vincent Massey Trojans

All-Stars:
Jeremiah Ige, Vincent Massey Trojans
Taven Vigilance, Oak Park Raiders
Adrian Ortega-Pelegrin, Oak Park Raiders
Kismayo de Michael, Dakota Lancers
Inder Brar, St. Paul’s Crusaders

MHSAA 2024 Dairy Farmers AAAA Basketball Championships Participants

Lancers stand among giants of Manitoba high school basketball

Dakota’s varsity girls clinch third consecutive provincial crown

The Dakota Lancers took their place among the best in Manitoba high school basketball history Monday night.

Sparked by a 25-point performance by Abby Sweeny and 20 more from tournament all-star Darya Rom, the Lancers captured their third consecutive provincial AAAA varsity girls basketball championship with an 84-34 victory over the Garden City Gophers at Investors Group Athletic Centre.

In the varsity boys final, Chris Piotrowski had a season-high 40 points to lead the top-seeded Vincent Massey Trojans to a 101-82 triumph over the sixth-seeded Oak Park Raiders.

Varsity girls MVP Izzi Fust didn’t have a stellar shooting night but still filled the scoresheet for the Lancers, registering eight points, 10 rebounds, two steals and one blocked shot.

“Honestly, this team has such a bond and dynamic, and this one means a lot to us,” said Fust, who will join her sister, Kyu, the 2023 provincial MVP, at the University of Regina next fall. “I think we really showed up when we needed to and executed our game plan well, and I thought the outcome was what we were hoping for.”

The top-seeded Lancers went 28-3 in 2023-24, losing only once to a Manitoba opponent (Garden City), en route to their three-peat. Oak Park (2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19) and Glenlawn (1990-2000, 2000-01, 2001-02) are the only other schools to win three consecutive varsity girls titles.

Hope Larocque added 14 points, three rebounds and three steals for the winners.

“You never know what you’re going to get in a one-game situation, especially in amateur sport, high school kids,” said Lancers head coach Eric Sung. “But these girls have been battle-tested, they’ve been together forever. Obviously, we had lots of confidence in ourselves but the kids bought in and everything kind of clicked. I’m super proud of them.”

Fust, Rom and Sweeny were integral members of all three title teams.

“Obviously the pressure of trying to win a third one here was weighing on them but I think they just enjoyed playing together, competing together, one more time here and getting it done,” said Sung.

Rom, who will play for the Manitoba Bisons next season, was thrilled to be going out a winner.

“This one obviously is most special, being my senior year, and having the history behind me and being able to play in all three and excel in all three is a moment I’ll never forget,” she said.

Meeyah Greaves had a team-high eight points for the Gophers.

“Yeah, they’re a tough team, they’re well-coached,” said Garden City head coach Roberto Campenella Jr., of the Lancers. “We were not healthy, unfortunately, too, and the ref made some calls. You gotta just kind of go with how the game is going.”

The second-seeded Gophers struggled to find their shooting form, trailing 19-5 after the first quarter and 38-15 at the intermission.

“No, we couldn’t buy a bucket, that’s for sure,” said Campenella, whose team lost 67-43 to Dakota in the 2023 final. “They were struggling as well. But like I said, all season long we wanted to get here. The goal was to compete with them because they’re literally set apart from everyone else.

“They adjusted, they came up with a game plan to slow us down and for whatever reason the hoop was looking pretty small for us.”

Garden City’s task was made more difficult by the absence of star guard Halley Cruz, who missed most of the season with a knee injury.

“Her presence, you could feel her not being out there for us,” said Campenella. “I just feel bad for her because no one wants to sit on the sidelines being injured. We found out about it early so we adapted with what we had, and life goes on.”

Trojans 101 Raiders 82

Massey, seeking its first varsity boys title since 2018-19, went on a 10-point run to end the first half to take a 48-39 lead.

Piotrowski, named tournament MVP, had 23 points before intermission.

“I’ve got good guys around so I never score an outrageous number like 40,” said Piotrowski, a Grade 12 guard who is uncertain about his playing future. “But I don’t know what came over me (tonight). I guess just the moment, and it happened.”

The Raiders also had their hands full attempting to control Jeremiah Ige, a tournament all-star, and Ellison Uwawah, who added 30 and 16 points, respectively.

“They’re a great team,” said Raiders head coach Cam MacNeil. “They won battles, especially down the stretch. They were just going downhill and we couldn’t stop them. They made a lot of tough buckets.”

Raiders guard Taven Vigilance, named a tournament all-star, went to the bench favouring an injured ankle with 7:10 left in the fourth quarter.

“I’m very fortunate,” said Massey head coach Cameron Fay. “We have a very deep team. Last game, it was Chris and Magnus (Carlos), first game Jerry (Ige) got going. I can roll different bodies that can play different ways. Jerry was unbelievable tonight, Brady (Fay’s) defence on Taven was great.

“To be able to have someone who can defend somebody with his skill is awesome. We’ve just got so many options. And these two teams like to get after one another as you can see. It comes from football, there’s a bit of a rivalry.”

Vigilance finished with 20 points while teammate Itay Koifman-Chagin chipped in with 18 points, including five three-pointers.

ALL-STAR HONOURS: Garden City’s Madison Schettler and Amira Lawrence, Vincent Massey’s Paige Schatkowsky and Daniel McIntyre’s Ava Shaw rounded out the varsity girls tournament all-star team… The varsity boys all-star squad also included Oak Park’s Adrian Ortega Pelegrin, Dakota’s Kismayo De Michael and Inderjeet Brar of St. Paul’s.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca