After a long layoff from the Christmas break, the St. Mary’s Auroras girls basketball team will return to the hardcourt with a home tournament.
The Auroras’ first game is 6 p.m. on Friday against Heritage Christian from Calgary.  A win puts the Auroras playing at 1:15 p.m. on Saturday with a loss having St. Mary’s play at 9:45 a.m.
“Basically what I’ve done this year is we try to get the (River Ridge) league people where we support each other’s tournaments so we included Milk River, Bow Island and Vauxhall,” said Terence Hochstein, head coach of the St. Mary’s girls basketball team.
Along with St. Mary’s game on the Friday there is Milk River versus Three Hills at 2:30 p.m., followed by St. Michael’s versus Senator Gershaw and then Vauxhall versus Clearwater Academy at 7:45 p.m. after the Auroras game.
“I try and bring in new teams every year,” said Hochstein, adding there will be teams at the tournament in the same boat as the Auroras vying for a 1A crown. “You have Gershaw, St. Mike’s, and Clearwater all vying for provincial contention. If our girls bring their ‘A’ game they can compete with anybody in the tournament and they know that. The kids have been playing as a team and it’s been the first time in a long time. We’ve always had one or two standout individuals, but our girls are playing as a team now. It’s a treat to coach and it’s enjoyable to watch. Everybody has bought in and we’ll see where it takes us.”
It will be a welcome relief for an Auroras team to see some actual hardcourt action after the long holiday break.
“The girls have been practising all through the holidays, but there’s nothing like getting back and playing ball. They will have a lot of ball in the next 70 days leading up to provincials. When you consider you got your semester break and your exams in there along with Reading Week in February, it shrinks the field up real quick as far as calendar days go,” said Hochstein.