The Virden Golden Bears are hoping to make high school hoops history.
The Bears are the top seed for the provincial girls’ basketball championship and are vying for their first-ever AAA title.
The lone basketball banner hanging at the Westman high school is a AA girls’ championship from 1984.
"We’re using it as motivation here with the girls," coach Stephen Densmore told CKLQ’s Tyler Crayston. "There’s no AAA basketball here. There’s lots of volleyball stuff here, but there has never been a basketball here. There’s been a AA way, way back. It’s whole other era for these girls and we want to start something a little different here."
Virden had a third-place finish a year-ago and are back on the big stage with a veteran group including all-star Heidi Smith, who helped Manitoba win a bronze medal at the Canada Summer Games.
"We know we can do it, we just have to play our best. When you get to provincials you always have to play your best. The Neelin’s out there, the Westgate’s, the R.D. Parker’s, they can knock you off," said Densmore. "R.D. Parker knocked us off last year because I think we were a little too overconfident going into that game and we’re not going to make that same mistake again. We know we have to come ready for bear on every game and every time."
Virden is going up against the host Swan Valley Tigers in the quarter-finals to open the tournament on Thursday.
The Neelin Spartans are also in the mix for both the girls’ and boys’ championship and are the fourth seed.
The last AAA titles secured by the Spartans came in 2008.
