Auroras take two of three

St. Mary’s Auroras girls basketball team awoke from a long hardcourt slumber to earn third place at its home tournament over the weekend.

“We’ve seen small improvements. It’s really hard when you’ve been off for 25 days from playing ball. You practice, but when you’re not playing an actual game in 25 days, it’s hard to get back in the grove,” said Terence Hochstein, co-coach of the St. Mary’s Auroras girls basketball team.

The Auroras won its opening game against Bassano and its third-place game against Milk River while dropping a Saturday-morning match against the Vauxhall Queens.

“Vauxhall is very strong. In my opinion, they are the team to beat in (River Ridge) league this year. They have a strong program,” said Hochstein, of the Queens who made the tournament final in a loss to Clearwater Academy.

“Our girls played well, it was a good game. It’s just Vauxhall is a deep team with 14 girls on their bench and they have some size, and that makes a huge difference.”

Hochstein was impressed with how his Auroras fared against an always tough Milk River team in its third-place game.

“The girls played a solid team effort. Everyone contributed and everyone worked hard. It was one of those games where our shots were falling and theirs weren’t,” said Hochstein. “We are in Milk River Wednesday night and almost guaranteed it will be something different. It’s hard to play in Milk River. Not too many teams win in Milk River, it’s  a tough road game,” said Hochstein.

The Auroras are on the road today against Milk River and then return home to host Bow Island on Thursday at 6 p.m. The team is then off for a lengthy time due to exams, with a Jan. 29 road game against Bow Island before participating in a Jan. 30-31 tournament in Milk River.