LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
Fort Simpson men and boys ruled the hardcourt and the girls put up a strong fight at the Wolfpack Invitational Basketball Tournament this past weekend.

Mary Anne Muyambo, front, races to catch the ball. Her teammates, behind her from left, are Holly Norwegian, Akesha Hardisty-Norwegian, Shaznay Waugh and Kyra Sanguez. - April Hudson/NNSL photo

The event brought 15 teams together in Fort Simpson on Jan. 8 and 9 for a weekend of round robin, semi-final and final games.

Four teams from Hay River, four teams from Fort Nelson, B.C. and a team from Yellowknife joined Fort Simpson's five teams as well as a team of coaches in the village for the games.

In the open mens division, Fort Simpson men's open won 53 to 40 against the coaches, with Laurent Isaiah named the most valuable player in the division after he scored 16 points in the game.

In the 19 and under division, the Wolfpack won a tight 50 to 49 against Fort Nelson. Kevin Roche scored 24 points and was named most valuable player, while Tyler Lafferty was named the top defensive player in the division.

Wolfpack boys won the 15 and under division against Fort Nelson with a final score of 29 to 35.

Bryce Hardisty-Phillips scored 22 of those points and was named most valuable player, while Zehro'h Waugh was named most sportsmanlike for the division.

Fort Simpson's girls division had a strong showing in the round robin but lost to Fort Nelson in the semi-finals.

During the girls division finals, Fort Nelson's red team won with a score of 28 to 19 against Fort Nelson's white team.

Hannah Sheppard was their top scorer.

"Our girls actually went undefeated in the round robin and just had a bad game in their semi-final," said Thomas Simpson Secondary School principal Neil Barry.

Barry said the girls did well considering they had never practised together as a full team.

"We were just sort of scrambling to get the girls together and get them to the last practice or two," he said.

Fort Simpson's boys went undefeated for the entire tournament, he added, even showing up the team of coaches.

"The coaches team won two and lost two - we did OK," he said.

"All the coaches just wanted to play, and we decided to even out the division by having that extra team."

With funding from Mackenzie Recreation, the tournament went smoothly. Teams returned home Jan. 10.

"We're glad Yellowknife was able to make it down, and Hay River always comes," Barry said of the tournament's organization.

"Once you do it enough times, it goes pretty smoothly."

Barry said he was pleased to see overall close scores in many of the games, which he said point to an adequate level of competition.

"There were quite a lot of one-point and three-point games. There weren't too many big blowouts," he said.

"It was good for everybody to get that competition."

As for Fort Simpson's players, Barry said many of the youth have enough experience now from tournaments that their game is improving year-to-year.

"We're on the upswing; we're getting to the point in the (basketball) program now where players have some experience so now they're getting better," he said.

"We're starting to win some games. It's good."