Bree Pavely ended her high school basketball career on the court with the top graduating players in the province after the Swift Current Comp. Ardens guard was selected to play in the Basketball Sask Senior Classic.
“It’s kind of nice to be recognized, especially from our rural area just because there’s not as much exposure to things like that,” she said of being selected. “So it was nice to be able to play with all of the girl’s that you’ve never played with, but have played against. It was a really cool experience.”
The game took place in Saskatoon on April 18, three weeks after the Ardens had played their final game of the season. Pavely and her new teammates got in a one hour practice that morning and then had a media event and photos before the game itself.
“Obviously it was a little bit harder than I expected since I hadn’t played for a while. Overall, I think it was pretty good. I wasn’t expecting much just knowing I was playing against the best grade 12’s in the province… I had a couple threes and a couple layups, so it was pretty good. It was fun to play with all these different people and figure out how they play.”
Pavely’s team won the game 73-63 after leading by around 20 points for most of the game.
She found herself teamed up with former rivals that she’s been battling against for years.
“It’s definitely different than playing against them. I think against them each player has a role on their team and we kind of figure out that role and that’s how we know them. When you put all of these people on a random team it’s like they all have a new role and you’re working more as a team and there’s not specific things that each person does. Each player played differently than what I expected them to do. It was pretty cool to be able to be cordial with people on my team and have fun against people on the other team and just joke around with everybody throughout the game.”
Pavely averaged 11 points per game during her fourth and final season with the Ardens.
“It was definitely a fun season and it was very different. I haven’t really played with different people for the last three years. I feel like I have had a really core group of people, so this year was quite different. It was fun. I think we really enjoyed it a lot.”
The Ardens won another Moose Jaw league title this season. They entered Hoopa ranked fifth amongst 5A teams and eventually placed fifth with one win and two losses at the provincial championship in Moose Jaw.
“Obviously we wish we had maybe won a couple more games at Hoopla, but you can’t really be too upset about it. We were ranked what we ended anyways. We wanted to expect more, but at least we didn’t go down, so positive vibes after Hoopla even though we were still upset.”
Pavely was proud to take on a leadership role in her final high school season.
“It was cool. I think in grade 11 I really watched Kylie [Michaluk] and Dani [Meyer] kind show me how to be a good leader, so it was pretty easy to just slip into that role seeing how they did it. It was cool to be the person that people depended on and came to with things and was able to help people.”
Pavely won bronze with the Ardens at Hoopla in grade nine and then silver in her grade 11 season.
“Ardens culture for us has always just been going into every game being the underdog. I think we’ve accomplished quite a lot of things with the underdog mindset. We’ve been in the top six for the last four years and even in the year before I came they were in the top six. It’s really cool to represent a team as a good as I’ve been on for four years straight and to be successful for four years.”
She looked back on her four years of Ardens basketball fondly.
“I think our chemistry for four years, even though it’s been different people, has been so good. I don’t know how a team can consistently have such good teammates and players. I have nothing negative ever to say about Ardens Basketball. It’s made me a better player and person and teammate, so all positive.”
Pavely is no one-sport wonder. She has already committed to play softball at Dakota State University in Madison, South Dakota next season.
“I knew I wanted to play NAIA softball and stay somewhat close, even though it is still pretty far, but in softball terms it’s pretty close. I knew I wanted to stay somewhat close and just a smaller school,” she explained. “I started looking and then I found them and I was interested. As soon as I stepped on campus for my visit I kind of knew that was where I wanted to be. Just the energy was really good and their softball program is really growing. They are going to get some new turf fields with a bubble over it. I think it was just the team chemistry that they have going on, the vibe that they have at their school, which is really cool to me.” Pavely was recruited as a middle infielder by the Trojans and may see time in the outfield as well.
