The Caronport Cougars Sr. Girls basketball team is once again the 3A Provincial Champions!  The girls defeated Clavet 67-66 in a thrilling back and forth contest that could have gone either way.  Emily Koshinsky scored the winning basket with three seconds remaining in the fourth-quarter to give the girls their secondProvincial Championship in as many years.

Here is the Post-game article by Matt Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times Herald

SASKATOON — In her first year as a basketball player, Caronport's Emily Koshinsky sometimes had to be reminded of the fundamentals.

Koshinsky grabbed an offensive rebound and laid her shot off the glass and in to give Caronport a 67-66 lead over Clavet. She then raced back to play defence and intercepted a desperate pass to end the game and begin a wild celebration as Caronport repeated as provincial champions.

"My coaches tell me to put the ball off the backboards on my offensive rebounds and that came through for me in the end I guess," said Koshinsky who was Sask Volleyball's 16-and-under female athlete of the year, but had never played organized basketball before. "I have really good coaches and a really great group of girls to work with."

The lead changed hands four times in the final 1:02 of the game in a great Hoopla final.

"That was a fun game to have a front row seat for," said Caronport head coach Leigh Wolverton. "Clavet played a great game and we knew it was going to be a tough game. It was basically who was going to have the ball at the end."

Koshinsky made the final shot, but Caronport had a number of players step up in huge moments in a thrilling final.

"For (Koshinsky) to do what she's done out there is quite impressive. The rest of the girls all played so hard and well. We basically rotated six girls and it took all of them," Wolverton said.

All five Caronport starters scored in double-digits.

Caronport had lost to Clavet earlier in the season, but never doubted that they could win a rematch.

"That was our worst game of the season. It was really bad," said Caronport senior Kennedy Kuntz who finished with 14 points and felt that earlier loss was a positive in the long run. "It was good because it gave us humility and made us work hard. It gave us a goal to reach and we conquered it."

Caronport came out confidently against top-ranked Clavet. They raced out to a 22-9 lead after a quarter. Clavet battled back to take their first lead before half, but the teams were tied 46-46 after three quarters.

Emilie Peters got Caronport going with a defensive block and a basket to open the final quarter. Caronport led most of the final quarter, but needed a Leah Hundeby jumper to tie the game with 34 seconds left. Karis Fawcett drove through traffic to make a great lay-up with 19.2 seconds left to give Caronport a two-point lead. 

Clavet responded as their senior point guard Michelle Kukurudza hit a clutch three-pointer with 12.3 seconds left.

In the end it was fitting that Caronport won on an offensive rebound after Clavet sank an outside shot. Koshinsky and Kuntz had great rebounding performances, especially offensively, to help lead the way. 

"I'm so happy. I'm also sad because my high school career is over, but I'm so happy I could finish it with this team," Kuntz said.

Koshinsky finished with 15 points, Hundeby had 13, Peters 12 and Fawcett 11 for Caronport. Clavet's Jill Ehman led all scorers with 17 points.