With the 2018 NWT women's curling championship in the bag, Team Galusha spent part of its final match mentoring the junior girls on Team Bain.

鈥淢y girls were just trying to teach them a bit better sweeping technique to help them out,鈥� said skip Kerry Galusha after the tournament, in which her team went 6-0 last weekend.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e off to the junior nationals next week. We played them twice and there were a few things we thought we could help them out with before they went.鈥�

Team Galusha moved through the women's territorials last year without a game because no one else entered. This year, the team got to practise against three women's teams from Inuvik.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 get enough games up here, so it was nice to see three Inuvik teams enter,鈥� said Galusha, adding that all six games were competitive.

The junior girls' team, made up of Inuvik youth Mataya Gillis, Pearl Gillis and Tyanna Bain, plus Halli Delorey from Hay River, will be competing at the U21 nationals in Quebec this week.

鈥淭hey taught us things we didn鈥檛 know for sure,鈥� said Mataya about the help from Team Galusha. 鈥淚 think it will help when we go to nationals.鈥�

Pearl said it was very nice of the older women to help them out.

鈥淚t was a good experience for us so we can get more games in, because we don鈥檛 get that many games a year compared to other provinces and territories,鈥� added Bain, whose team went 2-4 in the tournament.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 good to learn from a team who has experience in bigger tournaments.鈥�

For the nationals, the girls say they鈥檙e ready but going down more for practice and experience than anything.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not expecting to win the whole thing, but it鈥檚 just a fun experience that will help us with other future tournaments,鈥� said Bain.

The girls thanked all the parents, players and volunteers for making the event happen.

Coach Nick Saturnino said learning from Team Galusha was a huge opportunity for the junior girls.

鈥淲hen we can play in the ladies event against high-calibre completion, it improves the girls,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey got six high-quality games this week where they鈥檙e just learning, learning, learning.鈥�

Team Galusha will now have a couple of weeks off before competing at the Scotties in Penticton.

Team Mitchell, made up of Melba Mitchell, Bella Charlie, Leah Lennie and Tanya Gruben, went 3-3 in the tournament.

Team Lennie, made up of Ashley Lennie, Stephanie Crocker, Leah Bishop and Tannis Bain, went 1-5.