by Stephen Dafoe
Basketball shoes squeaking on hardwood mixed with cheers and laughter Saturday night as the Morinville Community High School Sr. Girls basketball team squared off against a team made up of former students for a friendly game on familiar grounds.
MCHS basketball coach Kent Lessard said the tradition has gone on for more than 30 years, which means the Morinville high school tradition predates the current school.
“We like to put this on so that the former players can come back and see the current group of girls that are going through,” said Coach Kent Lessard. “It’s good camaraderie. The girls come back and see some of the girls that they don’t maybe see on a regular basis.”
Of the roughly 20 alumni players who took to the court Saturday, some had graduated as recently as last summer, while one had graduated in 2002.
“It’s really good for our program. It’s keeps the girls involved in it and it’s just nice to see all the kids come back to our school,” Lessard said.
But the actual game showed that no matter how long they were off the high school basketball court, they still had some skills to show the new players.
The MCHS Sr. Girls lead 14-10 after the first quarter but were trailing 28-22 at the half. The game continued through a tight third quarter that saw the Sr. girls trailing 43-34. The final quarter closed the gap for the younger players who fell narrowly 54-50 to the former students.
There were few frowns on the Sr. Girls side as they shook hands on down the line after the game. The exercise was about connecting with women who competed for MCHS in the past.
