SASKATOON - The LCBI Lady Bisons have reason to celebrate early in the high school basketball season, as the team came home from Saskatoon with a victory in a celebrated tournament bringing the best in city competition.
The Bowlt Classic tournament has been a Saskatoon mainstay since 2019, inviting male and female teams to participate in the event's blue and orange divisions in the hopes of securing victory.
In fact, both teams from the Home of the Bisons competed in the tournament over November 28-30, with the senior boys also playing in the hopes of bringing some hardware back to Outlook.
The boys started their tournament hopes with a game against the squad from Marion Graham played at Tommy Douglas Collegiate on November 29, but the Bisons couldn't find a way to forge ahead on the scoreboard after their opponents found a path to staying ahead. LCBI would lose at a score of 64-43. The Bisons' second game the next morning wouldn't fare much better as far as a win was concerned, though the team played a solid game against the squad from Bedford Road, who were victorious at a score of 78-55.
Aimed to end their time in the tournament on a high note, the boy Bisons had one final game against Mount Royal that afternoon, where LCBI got ahead on the scoreboard and worked hard to maintain the lead, ultimately securing the victory at a score of 39-29.
The Lady Bisons, meanwhile, enjoyed a bit more success than their male counterparts, beginning with their first game played on Friday against the hosting Tommy Douglas Collegiate team, finding a way to secure the lead and maintain a respectable distance en route to a win at the score of 59-44. Their second game played later that day against Saskatoon Christian School didn't go their way though, as LCBI lost at a score of 52-43, but the Lady Bisons found themselves in the Senior Girls Orange Division final, slotted up against the squad from Bedford Road on November 30.
A very balanced affair on the court, the game could've belonged to either team at any point during the action. However, once LCBI found themselves ahead, they fought and clawed to maintain that lead despite Bedford Road's attempts to match and then eclipse them on the scoreboard. The razor-thin game finally came to an end by the score of 50-45, and LCBI found themselves to be Bowlt Classic Champions.
The LCBI Lady Bisons are comprised of players Alex Littlejohn, Ayva Bidochka, Cassidy Ireland, Eden Laliberte, Hallie Sincennes, Kaitlin Wright, Lia Corlan, Morgan Chabot, Naomi Brand, Olivia Hefner, Olivia Thompson, Rebecca Ziegler, and Sophia Fleck.
