Raymond’s JV teams fall to Cardston in pair of semifinal contests

Garrett Simmons
Westwind Weekly News

The season is over for junior varsity basketball teams in Magrath and Raymond.
All four local teams are out of the running in their respective JV playoff tournaments, following loses on Monday and Tuesday.
Raymond’s boys and girls teams both advanced to Tuesday semifinal contests, but were ousted by Cardston on each occasion.
The boys started off hot, as the Comets defeated Magrath Monday night 84-64. Hayden Greep struck for 32 in the win, while Tanner Salmon added 21, Jaxon West had 15 and Ryker Davison had 10.
Taylor Harker replied with 21 for the Zeniths, as Thomas Frank connected for 17 and Colton Finck added 11.
Both Magrath and Raymond came into the game with identical 6-8 records in the regular season.
Raymond’s run ended Tuesday with an 82-51 loss to the top-ranked Cardston Cougars. Liam Davison had 16 points for the Comets in the loss, as Ryker Davison added 15.
Cardston will now take on Lethbridge Collegiate Institute, Saturday at noon at the University of Lethbridge, for the JV title.
The JV girls tournament followed the same pattern for Raymond, as the Comets opened play on Monday with a 78-74 win over Magrath. Taylor Graves scored 15 to lead Raymond, as the seventh-ranked Comets upset the second-ranked Pandas. Breanne Jensen added 12, Haely Lamontagne had 11 and Cassidy Quinton and Talani Iwaasa both tickled the twine for 10 in a balanced effort.
Lucy Wilde paced the Pandas with 20, as Hannah Barfuss added 12. Miranda Strate and Elley Johnson both had 10 points for Magrath.
Despite the opening-round win, Raymond’s hopes were once again dashed by Cardston, as the Cougars took Tuesday’s semifinal by a score of 60-57.
Graves had 17 in a losing cause for the Comets, as Lamontagne had 12 and Iwaasa added 11.
Cardston and LCI will also square off for the JV girls title, as that game is set for Saturday at 10 a.m. at the U of L.
That will put a cap on the JV season where the Pandas finished 11-3 in the regular-season standings, while Raymond stood at 5-9.