By Scott Roblin

Kwahommies golden at home tournament, Mohawks fall in semis

Dec 17, 2017 | 3:16 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A perfect tournament for the Medicine Hat High Kwahommies basketball team team, walking away from their home ‘Green & White Invitational Tournament’ with a gold medal.

The Kwahommies were coming off wins over Central Memorial and Eagle Butte on Saturday, and were matched up in the tournament finals against the Ernest Manning Griffins.

Medicine Hat came out red-hot in the opening half with almost 50 points, running over the Griffins by a 96-51 final score to win their home tournament.

Grade 12 veteran Rhiannon Ware was named tournament MVP and said she’s extremely proud of the way her team played with gold medals on the line.

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“We might have had a rough start this morning, but we definitely picked it up to bring out the gold,” said Ware. “We played hard for it, it was a great performance by everyone tonight.”

It’s the first tournament win of the season for the Kwahommies, with many of their younger players getting to close out the game on Saturday against Ernest Manning.

As for the MVP honour, Ware said it’s an award that will fuel her for the remainder of the high school basketball season.

“It’s a great honour,” she said. “I try to work my best and my hardest, and it’s really good to feel that people notice. It makes me want to work that much harder for things, so this is a great feeling.”

On the boys side, the Mohawks were also looking for their first tournament victory of the season as well.

The Mohawks went 2-0 in round-robin play with wins over Henry Wisewood and Martins Collegiate, giving the team the top seed in the playoff stage.

Taking on Lester B. Pearson out of Calgary in the semi-finals, the Mohawks and Patriots traded blows throughout the opening half with Medicine Hat up by a handful of points.

Things changed in the third quarter however, as the Patriots took the lead and never looked back, eliminating the Mohawks by a 75-67 score.

Senior Mohawk Ben Menesho scored 13 points in the loss and said it’s a tough way to see their home tournament end.

“It was a tough battle getting there,” said Menesho. “When we come away with a loss it’s always hard, because we fought so hard to try to get back there. So, it’s rough, but it is what it is.”

The Kwahommies play host to the Chinook Coyotes out of Lethbridge on Monday night at 6:00 pm, while the Mohawks are on the road Tuesday to face Lethbridge Collegiate Institute.