SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Thirteen basketball players from Fort Simpson left it all on the court during |their last tournament of the year and for some the last tournament of their high school careers.

Four female players and nine male players from Thomas Simpson School travelled to Yellowknife to compete in the NWT Power Corporation Senior Cager from Feb. 26 to 28.

Thomas Roche moves the ball up the court for the Wolfpack during one of the Fort Simpson team's games at the NWT Power Corporation Senior Cager in Yellowknife. - James McCarthy/NNSL photo

The female players, Shelagh Byatt, Tanis Browning, Destiny Nahanni-Hope and Amanda Burrill, played with the Hay River Panthers.

The Panthers took third place in their division. The team finished the tournament with a record of one win and two losses.

Hay River lost to Yellowknife's St. Patrick High School 55-24 and then won in a close game against another Yellowknife team, the Sir John Franklin High School blue team, 31-30.

A narrow loss to Sir John Gold 29-26 put the team into the consolation final.

The game was a rematch between the Panthers and Sir John gold but with a different results. The Panthers played a strong game for a 25 point win and third place.

Despite the fact the athletes hadn't played together before the Hay River and Fort Simpson players gelled as a team, said Kristen Morrison, who helped coach the team.

"They showed great work ethic and team spirit through the whole tournament," Morrison said.

Because they're in Grade 12 the tournament was the last one of Byatt, Browning and Burrill's high school careers.

While the girls' team won their consolation game the boy's team narrowly lost theirs.

The Wolfpack had a demanding start to the tournament playing its first game on Friday evening at 9 p.m. just an hour after getting off the bus.

The Wolfpack met long-time rivals the Tulita T-Wolves and lost 69-55.

The team played poorly in the first game and didn't pull it together until the third quarter, said Jeff McKay, who played wing.

The Wolfpack was immediately back on the court playing Inuvik at 10:15 p.m. This time the village team won 68-48.

The team started its first of four games on Saturday with a 45-44 overtime win against Hay River.

"We kind of won it by the hair of our chin," said McKay.

The Wolfpack went on to lose against Yellowknife teams Sir John Franklin High School 61-39 and St. Patrick High School 72-36.

In its first playoff game the Wolfpack faced a deja vu game against Hay River once again winning score 45-44, but in regulation time. Thomas Roche, the team's point guard, secured the victory by hitting back to back three pointers with approximately a minute left in the game.

The Wolfpack went on to narrowly miss winning their last two games. Playing against St. Patrick High School the teams were within two points of each other in the third quarter. The Wolfpack just ran out of gas in the fourth, said McKay.

"Everyone showed a lot of heart that game. We dug deep and pulled it close," he said.

In the consolation game the Wolfpack lost by four points to Sir John. The team ran into some foul trouble and Sir John hit all of their foul shots, McKay said.

The tournament was the last one for McKay, Steven Boutillier, Gordon Thompson and Roche. Roche will be playing basketball at the Arctic Winter Games later this month.

"It was definitely a fun year," said McKay.

"Everyone achieved quite a bit from where we started this year."

Other Wolfpack members included B.J. Burrill, Dakota Burrill, Laurent Isiah, Charles Gargan and Logan McKay.

Morrison, who coached the team along with Alex Campbell and Tim Harden, thanked all the graduating players for their hard work. Despite losing players things look promising for next year thanks to the performances of Dakota Burrill, Isiah and McKay, she said.

"They showed great signs of potential for the future," said Morrison.