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The LeBoldus Golden Suns senior girls basketball team and the Saskatoon Holy Cross Crusaders senior boys are heading home with some new hardware.
The Crusaders staved off a comeback attempt by LeBoldus’ boys squad and hung on for a 71-68 victory Saturday to claim the Luther Invitational Tournament title for the first time since 2010.
Holy Cross was up by a point with 20 seconds to go but the Crusaders’ Noah Flaman missed two free-throw attempts.
The Golden Suns corralled the rebound and advanced up the court. Cade Mather drove to the hoop with five seconds left but his shot was blocked.
Holy Cross’ Seth Hundeby fetched the rebound and was fouled, sending him to the line with four seconds left. Hundeby hit both free throws for the final points of the game.
“It’s awesome. We came in here hoping for the best and just to get better. To win, it really means a lot,” Hundeby said.
Assistant coach Taylor Hammel played in the tournament as a member of the Holy Cross team in 2013.
“It’s a prestigious tournament and it’s always great to win it here,” Hammel said. “We have such a special group here that works hard and they know they want the win and they’ll do anything for it.”
Meanwhile, the LeBoldus girls team, which won the 2019 Challenge Cup at LIT, defeated the Raymond Comets 73-55 in Saturday’s final.
The LeBoldus Golden Suns senior girls basketball team poses after winning its second straight Challenge Cup at the Luther Invitational Tournament on Feb. 8, 2020. (Britton Gray/980 CJME)
“It feels awesome. It’s such a big thing. There’s lots of heritage and tradition in (this tournament) and since the girls (division) hasn’t been around for a long time, it’s really cool,” Golden Suns star Jade Belmore said following her team’s win.
In the process of helping her team capture its second straight title at LIT, Belmore became the girls tournament’s all-time scorer with 165 points. That total also places the Grade 12 student eighth all-time at the tournament. She was named the tournament MVP on the girls side.
It wasn’t easy going early for the Golden Suns en route to their second straight title. They were down 14-7 before rattling off a 22-3 run to end the first quarter.
“To be honest, I was a little surprised,” LeBoldus head coach Garret Kot said. “The one thing that we kind of stress in practice and we have for years is defence.
“There’s always going to be those games where your shooting just isn’t going in for any reason, which was kind of the case for some of our girls in the first half.”
The game was tied by halftime but the Golden Suns took control in the second half en route to their victory.
Maren Tunison, who’s also one of the Golden Suns’ seniors, said LIT can help the team get into the right mindset ahead of city playoffs and provincials.
“We come out of Christmas break, have a couple tournaments (and) LIT caps off those tournaments,” Tunison said. “Then it’s a couple games and practices and then it’s right into playoffs and the finals and provincials and everything.”
The tournament also marks another milestone in the high school careers of Belmore and Tunison.
Both are seeking their third straight provincial title and both are set to join the University of Regina Cougars in the fall.
“It’s the home team. I’ve always dreamed of playing with the Cougars,” Tunison said. “It’s what you think about growing up. You think, ‘I’m going to put on that green and gold,’ and that’s what ended up happening.”
Belmore is looking forward to heading to the next level with someone with whom she’s familiar.
“It’s awesome. We’ve grown up (together). We were on the same club team so it’s going to be cool,” Belmore said.
Kot said the team is focused on provincials and defending its title, but he also acknowledges how special it is to win LIT in back-to-back years.
“(It’s special) for the first (LeBoldus) girls team to have back-to-back banners,” Kot said. “You can look up there and there’s a handful of the boys teams that have that, but for (this group of) girls to be the first ones to do that, years from now hopefully the girls come back into the gym, they see that and they realize what kind of special thing that is.”