Local Sports
Providence player sinks Sea Bears half-court shot, gives glory to God
For the first time this season, a fan has made the half-court shot at the Winnipeg Sea Bears game and she is giving all glory to God. Carman native, Sydney Last has been playing basketball since Grade seven and is a guard on the Providence Pilots women's basketball team. On August 8, she had the opportunity to make the challenging shot. "It was a pretty crazy moment," Last said. "My goal was really to just make it close. I make half courts often when I shoot them, like they're not impossible, but in front of such a big crowd and with two shots only." Going into her second shot, she was using a men's basketball, which is larger than she is used to playing with. The size difference didn't matter as she made the shot. "When it went in, it was a crazy moment." While emotions were running high as she celebrated, she made sure to give glory to God. "God's blessed me with this talent of basketball and I always wonder how I can use it for His glory and He just gives ways like this." .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } During the season at Providence, Last trains with Pierre Dubreuil, the men's basketball coach. "We train what we call heat check which is shooting from far distances at the end of every training, and seeing how many shots it takes us.The week before I had known that I might have the chance to shoot the half-court shot, so we've been shooting a little further back and just practicing." Last says that going into the shot, she was prepared. "Last week I was coaching a basketball camp with a bunch of kids. We're just trying to have fun. So often when you have fun, you shoot half-court shots. So all week at camp I was shooting half-court shots with the camp members." She said the opportunity came up after meeting a Sea Bears staff member at a young adults conference earlier this year. "I went to the Collide Conference and I met someone. Now she's a friend, but she works for the Sea Bears Media. She knows my basketball background and they were looking for someone who could make the shot since they hadn't had anyone make it all season." When her friend learned that Last was coming to a came she asked how confident she was she could make the shot. "I told her about 60 or 70%, but after I sent that message, I was a little less sure." After making the half-court shot challenge, she got to walk away with a prize. "A signed basketball from the Sea Bears players." Last also walked away with a cooler bag, water bottle, ice pack. "That's all they had on hand when I was there. But they took down my contact information and said they were going to send me more. So still waiting for that, but honestly, the memory is probably the biggest prize of all, so I'm pretty happy with that." If Last could summarize the whole moment in one word, she said, "Either incredible or surreal. It's a dream. Sometimes it almost doesn't feel like it happened because it's just so crazy, but I've definitely rewatched the video many times to remind myself that it did happen." Last is no stranger to sharing her faith. In 2023, while in Grade 12 at Carman Collegiate, she won Providence University College High School Athlete of the Month.