The Dauphin Clippers JV girls basketball team used home court to their advantage, winning the Clipper Classic this past weekend.

After opening the tournament with a 69-9 win over the Swan Valley Tigers, the Clippers defeated the Neelin Spartans, 52-21, in the semifinals, before beating Brandon’s Vincent Massey Vikings, 29-28 in the championship game.

Neelin went on to place third, beating Yorkton, 52-18. Gladstone beat Swan River to win the consolation.

Clippers coach John Marshall said the players showed a lot of grit and determination, especially in the final.

“The first two games, as indicated by the scores, we didn’t have a very difficult time defeating those teams. And that’s no offence to them. But they couldn’t match us.”

Dauphin’s next tournament will be the Nighthawks Invitational, Jan. 30 and 31, in Winkler.

Until then, the Clippers will work on offence.

“Our offence is inconsistent. We need to be much sharper executing and not panicking so much under man-to-man defence,” Marshall said.

Marshall wishes to thank everyone who helped to organize the tournament and run things behind the scenes. He also thanked teacher Don Sheldon, who spearheaded the construction of the announcer’s table, which adds to the atmosphere at Clippers’ home tournaments.

“It really helps to support school spirit. I look at that and I’m so proud of what they did. It just makes our tournaments so much better,” he said.

The JV boys were in Winkler for the Nighthawks Invitational, where they went 1-2, losing out in the consolation final.

Read the full story in this week’s edition of the Dauphin Herald.