County students don red and black in honour of Bathurst students

First of all, I want to extend my condolences to the family members and friends of those who died in the horrific bus crash last weekend in New Brunswick.

The deaths of those eight people - seven basketball players from the Bathurst High School boys team and the coach's wife - has left an entire community in mourning.

Students from schools across the Maritimes are wearing red and black - the Bathurst High Phantoms' team colours - as a tribute to those who died.

Locally, students are also doing their part.

At the Northumberland girls basketball team's home game against Springhill today, players are asking those in attendance to wear red and black to remember those lost. They will also be collecting at the front doors of Northumberland Regional High School for a fundraiser. They ask anyone in attendance to do their part, and show some support.

The Northumberland boys and girls basketball teams just returned from the Charlottetown Rural Confederation Classic, held on P.E.I. last weekend. The boys team split their games, going 2-2. The girls didn't fare quite as well, however, dropping all four of their games.

"The games weren't a real treat," admits coach Bob Richardson, "but we had a lot of fun."

The problem, he says, is that the girls are still learning how to finish games. In all four of those games, they were competitive for the first three quarters before falling apart in the final frame, he adds.

The loss against Sackville was especially hard to take, he says, since the girls lost that game in the final minutes. It didn't help that they were playing without one of their starters - guard Amanda Handlon didn't play in the tournament as a precaution after a minor, off-court injury.

"The girls have to learn how to keep the pressure on, even when they're down," Richardson says of his team.

Congratulations are in order for the North Nova boys basketball team, who finished first in the Highland Ford Sales & Service Basketball Classic on the weekend.

They beat the Dartmouth High Spartans in the gold medal game. The girls basketball team are hoping some of that luck will rub off on them as they host their own tournament at NNEC this Friday and Saturday.

The girls will open the tournament Friday afternoon against Amherst, a Division 2 team. They'll play Parkview later that day. "Amherst is a very strong team," says coach Fred Hampton, adding that they're 0-1 against that team so far this season.

"They're going to be tough."

The Gryphons won their only game against Parkview this season, and are looking forward to a re-match.

"I think we'll have a better outcome against Parkview; we still have to come to play, but I think we'll be able to hold our own."

Hampton's team also competed in the Charlottetown Confederation Classic on the weekend, finishing fourth out of 12 girls teams. They beat Bluefield and Sackville, but fell to Charlottetown's Colonel Gray in the semi-final game (Colonel Gray went on to win the tournament).

The girls lost a heartbreaker to Fredericton in the bronze medal game, falling 61-60. Sam Hyson was named the tournament all-star for North Nova.

Hampton says he was pleased with his team's performance against Colonel Gray.

"I told the girls 'I think we turned a corner when we played them,'" says Hampton of the game that ended in a 54-44 loss.

"We played a full 40-minute game and ultimately lost to a very good basketball team."

Cait McIntyre is a reporter with The News.