NEWS PHOTO SEAN ROONEY Cardston's Taylor Merrill (9) and Hat High's Hailee Parker (10) battle for the ball during a varsity girls South Zone playoff game at Hat High Tuesday.
There are still chances for Hat High’s girls basketball team to reach provincials, but it’s now do or die.
The Kwahommies fell 82-61 to Cardston’s Cougars to begin the 4A South Zone tournament Tuesday, their last game on home court before the seven-team event moves to the University of Lethbridge.
Seeded fourth to earn home court advantage, Hat High couldn’t stop a barrage of three-pointers from the fifth-seeded Cougars. Abby Nelson hit five, Jill Leishman four from beyond the arc and Cardston wound up with 12 in total from long range.
That also freed up space for Lauren Wolsey, who wound up with a game-high 25 in the minor upset.
Kyler Varga led the Kwahommies with 15 points while Tori Kaczynski added 13 and Hailee Parker 11.
While there are four spots for the South Zone to provincials, including a host berth, Hat High now has to win its next game to secure one of them.
The good news? Because they were put on the three-team half of the draw, Hat High gets Thursday off while the A-side semifinals take place. They’ll face one of those A-side losers in the consolation semifinal Friday at the U of L to decide who gets to the third-place game.
Cardston now has to play top seed Raymond Thursday.
The 4A boys’ game between Hat High and Chinook started at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Hat High, with no score reported to the News by press time. There are four spots from the eight-team draw to provincials, meaning the third-seeded Mohawks will play Thursday in Lethbridge regardless of how they started. Unlike the Kwahommies, however, they’ll need a total of two wins before they reach two losses to wind up with a spot.
Monsignor McCoy hosts 3A zones starting Friday.
