ALBERTA NEWSPAPERS JUSTIN SEWARD
Magrath Zeniths Max Smith battles for a shot at the basket against Medicine Hat High School Hawks Jada Bolok during the 4A South Zone Championship senior boys high school final on Saturday at 1st Choice Savings Centre. The Hawks won the banner with a 99-96 overtime victory.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat High Hawks senior basketball teams head into 4A provincials with an eye on making the most of two special seasons.
The Hawks senior boys basketball team enters provincials as the No. 1 seed after winning the South zone championship over the weekend, their first since 2014. The senior girls basketball team heads into provincials as the 13th seed, coming off a fourth place finish at zones.
The JV Hawks girls team also won zones over the weekend, their first South title in 25 years. The JV boys team finished third at zones. With all four programs finding that success with more promise ahead for the seniors this weekend, there’s a lot to be excited for when it comes to Hawks basketball boys head coach and Hat High athletic coordinator Chad Watson says.
“That’s the culture we’re building right now, it doesn’t matter whatever sport,” Watson said. “Our volleyball team wen to provincials, our football team won zones, we’re so committed here at Medicine Hat High School, we’re trying to create a positive culture for not only for all students, but for anybody that wants to be involved in athletics.
“We push ourselves, we push each other. I love coming to work, it’s not really work for us. It’s just our passion and we love being here.”
His senior boys team enters provincials looking to capture their first provincial title as a program. They’ll open the tournament against the 16th seed Grande Prairie Composite. Watson says it’ll be a test of a game with no easy matchup in provincials and when looking forward at potentially capturing that provincial title, he says it would be house money on an already special season.
“We give up so much time to be a part of this, so to win it or to actually put ourself in the driver’s seat to win it, would be an amazing feeling,” Watson said. “That’s what we try and do every single year, our goal every year is to win zones. Anything past that, we don’t worry about that. If you live in Southern Alberta, winning zones means a lot to everybody down here and provincials is a gift. It’s our main focus but I’d be the happiest person in Alberta if we pull off a victory on Saturday night.”
For the Hawks girls team, they open their provincials run against the fourth ranked Foothills Composite. It’s a team head coach Megan Getz says they’ve played before with a limited roster. As they head into the matchup and a hopeful long run through provincial, she says it will come down to playing their game and a commitment to defence that has brought them success all season.
“We lock in defensively and we just work really hard on the defensive end of the floor to get stops and then try and turn that into buckets on the other end,” Getz said. But really, these girls who just have a ton of heart and grit, they go really hard and it’s been really fun to coach them. I was that kind of player, so having a bunch of girls who have the guts and grit they do, it’s been a lot of fun for me to coach. That’s really what’s led to our success is how committed we are to playing really great.”
With a younger roster and only six seniors on the team, Getz says getting the provincials experience will go a long way towards next season and beyond.
“It’s been really great having so many young girls float to the senior team because it’s just giving them so much more experience than a lot of other what other teams have,” Getz said. “I’ve never had this many floaters before in the past and it’s been difficult to manage that many bodies on the bench but at the same time, that experience for them being able to go to provincials and see what that’s like is only going to help them next year and the year after.”
