There was a quick start and stop for the high school basketball season, and now the regular season will be put on hold for a few weeks.

Five local high school teams in Rocky View Sports (RVS) divisional play hit the courts, Jan. 9, in their first games of the New Year.

The Bow Valley JV Girls lost a close one to Airdrie's WH Croxford Cavaliers. The Cavaliers came back from a 27-20 deficit at the half to tied the score at 48-48 with three minutes remaining.  Croxford then forged ahead and took advantage of turnovers and free throws to ice the Bobcats, 58-48.

Bobcats head coach Kris Nielson says turnovers in the backcourt hurt his team and made for easy points for the Cavaliers. He notes a girl returning to the Cavaliers lineup after missing most of December was the difference on both offence and defence and he expects they will be a contender come divisional and zone playoffs.

"Hopefully we get another shot at them," says Nielson.

The Bobcats don't see regular season play until they face George McDougall Mustangs on Jan. 31,  but in the meantime will be playing an exhibition game against the St. Timothy Thunder SV girls on Jan. 19 before the exam break. Then they're off to a Canmore tournament, Jan. 26-27.

Other Tuesday Night Games

In other RVS basketball action Tuesday night, the Bobcats JV boys lost 76-66 against the Cavaliers. The senior girls lost a squeaker to the Cavaliers, 43-42.

In exhibition play, the Cochrane High JV boys beat Beiseker, 90-33, and their junior girls won 66-26.