Yukon enjoys success at 2009 Canada Summer Games

The Yukon boys' basketball team enjoyed its best result Thursday at the Canada Summer Games, in P.E.I.

The Yukon boys’ basketball team enjoyed its best result Thursday at the Canada Summer Games, in P.E.I.

Taking on a squad from the Northwest Territories, the Yukoners dropped 84 points, winning 84-55.

The victory improved the boy’s record to 1-3 and set up what should be an exciting game against Newfoundland today.

“It felt pretty good, if I do say so,” said Tim Brady, the Yukon boy’s head coach for basketball, about the win over N.W.T. “It was nice to get a win. Our guys have worked very hard this whole week and long before this week in preparing to come here. They have put a lot of time and effort into preparing for this event.”

Other Yukon results on Thursday included an impressive cycling showing from Heather Enders, who placed 17th overall in the final road race standings (out of 40 riders).

Fellow female Yukon riders Kaitlyn Mary MacDonald came in 29th, while Kelsey Kabanak finished 34th.

Jesse Reams was the top Yukoner in the male category, coming in 29th, while the territory’s opening ceremony flag bearer Troy Henry came in 32nd. Henry was followed by David Gonda (33rd) and Ryan Burlingame (34th). There were 60 male riders in the final standings.

The Yukon’s girls’ soccer team also suited up on Thursday, losing a close one-goal game against P.E.I. in extra time. The final score was 3-2 and included the Yukon coming from behind on two separate occasions to tie it up.

“It was a great game, but a tough one to lose,” said Yukon girls’ soccer head coach John MacPhail. “It was probably the most disappointed I have ever seen our girls, but we also talked about it and they are very proud of what they accomplished.”

Yukon goal scorers in the P.E.I. game included Katie Lowey, who converted on a free-kick cross over from teammate Jaime Whitty. The goal tied the game up at 1-1, which is how the first half score finished.

Terri Publicover, who made a habit of scoring some big goals for the territory at the 2009 Games, put in the Yukon’s second goal, which came with about 20 minutes remaining in regular time. She sent the ball into the back of the net on a shot that curled in from approximately 30 yards out.

Publicover’s tally tied it up at 2-2 and forced extra time.

However, five minutes into the OT session, P.E.I. struck back, ending the game with it’s third goal on a long shot that landed in the right side of the net.

“It wasn’t even a breakdown,” MacPhail said about the winning goal. “Sometimes they are nice goals and that’s what that was.”

The team lost it’s final game against the N.W.T. today by a 2-1 score, which was its third straight loss by one goal.

The territory’s girls’ basketball wrapped up its Canada Summer Games tournament Thursday with a 63-35 loss to Manitoba. The girls finished with an 0-5 record.

The Yukon boys will play their final game no matter what today’s basketball outcome is against Newfoundland.

The boy’s tournament began Sunday with three straight losses to Alberta, Nova Scotia and P.E.I. Despite the losses there were highlights, including meeting one of the team’s goals of outscoring a province in one quarter, which happened against both P.E.I. and gold medal contender Nova Scotia.

Brady said his team knew that Thursday’s game against N.W.T. would be a little more competitive and both squads were geared up to face their fellow territorial rival.

Not only were the Yukoners competitive, but they managed to win, or at least, either equal every single game analysis category, including outscoring the N.W.T. 10-0 in turnovers, 36-14 with points in the paint and 14-4 in second chance points.

“Certainly the rebounding is big, points off of turnovers was big and points in the paint was big for us,” Brady said. “So we managed to really play a solid game today.”

One of the players that stood out in Brady’s mind was Logan Gray, who for a second straight game had a double. Gray chipped in 13 points and had 16 rebounds.

“That’s a lot of work to get that many rebounds, so that was a very good performance on his part,” he said about Gray.

The Yukon also benefitted from balanced scoring, including four players finishing with more than 10 points. Brady said the score was out of reach for N.W.T. by the end of the third quarter, which had the Yukon leading by 24 points.

He said he is looking forward to finishing the tournament against Newfoundland today and added that the fan support from parents and supporters has been a big help.

“It just makes it that much more memorable for us,” Brady said about the Yukon’s cheering section at the Canada Summer Games. “When you are sort of playing against a very good team in a different gym and you come out there and see some familiar faces that are going to cheer for you no matter what and we have had lots of that.”

The Yukon is still looking for it’s first medal at the Games, however swimming has yet to begin and the territory is sending what is believed to be its most talented aquatics team ever assembled for the Canada Summer Games.

Swimming begins on Sunday and is one of the main sports during the second and final week of competition at the Games.

Quebec is currently leading the standings with 36 medals (11 gold, 11 silver and 14 bronze), while British Columbia sits in second (10 gold, nine silver and six bronze) and Ontario rounds out the top three (10 gold, seven silver and six bronze)

Alberta is in a distant fourth with seven medals and Nova Scotia is the top maritime province with five medals.