The St. Albert Skyhawks won their last game at the 4A provincial championship to finish 33-5 overall in high school women’s basketball.
The Skyhawks downed the Bishop Grandin Ghosts of Calgary 70-58 in the fifth/sixth game in the championship bracket of the 16-team tournament at Jasper Place High School.
The Skyhawks were seeded second and the Ghosts were eighth in the provincial draw.
It was the third win in four games at provincials by the Skyhawks but their only loss was a biggie: 65-57 to the 10th-seeded Medicine Hat Kwahommies in Thursday’s quarter-finals.
At the Skyhawks Invitational in January, the tournament hosts knocked off the Kwahommies by 26 points.
At provincials, the Kwahommies beat the seventh-seeded Jasper Place Rebels 40-31 in the round of 16, the third-seeded St. Francis Browns of Calgary 68-66 in the semifinals and the No. 1-seeded Spruce Grove Panthers 59-48 in the final.
The Browns were awarded bronze after defeating the fourth-seeded William Aberhart Orange of Calgary 84-81.
The Skyhawks tipped off provincials Thursday by crushing the 15th-seeded Dr. E.P. Scarlett Lancers of Calgary 99-16 and after losing to the Kwahommies they knocked off the sixth-seeded Cardston Cougars 58-54 Friday.
Last year the Skyhawks finished 30-5 overall as bronze medallists in their 4A provincial debut after setting a record in winning four consecutive 3A banners.
The metro Edmonton division one finalists for the second consecutive year lose five players to graduation.
The Paul Kane Blues are consolation finalists for the second year in a row at the 4A provincial championship.
The Blues finished 2-2 after losing 58-48 to the Jasper Place Rebels in Saturday’s consolation game at the high school women’s basketball tournament at Jasper Place.
The Blues were seeded ninth and the Rebels were seventh in the 16-team draw.
Leading up to provincials the Rebels edged the Blues 63-62 at Paul Kane to determine the third and fourth Edmonton zone seeds for provincials.
Thursday’s 70-65 loss to the eighth-seeded Bishop Grandin Ghosts of Calgary in the round of 16 at Paul Kane dropped the Blues into the consolation bracket.
The Blues advanced to the consolation final with victories of 85-46 against the 16th-seeded Westwood Trojans of Fort McMurray and 73-62 against the fifth-seeded Western Canada Redhawks of Calgary.
The Blues were competing in their third provincials in four years.
The metro Edmonton division one semifinalists in 2015 and 2014 graduate four players.
The Morinville Wolves rebounded from losing their provincial opener to finish where they were seeded at the 3A women’s basketball championship.
Larissa Van Brabant scored a game-high 14 points and Noemi Morin added 10 as the Wolves defeated the Wetaskiwin Sabres 51-32 Saturday in the ninth/10th game in the 12-team provincial draw in Taber.
The two-time reigning North Central zone champions outscored the 10th-seeded Sabres 21-8 in the second quarter to lead 28-17 at halftime.
The Wolves tipped-off the tournament with a 79-44 loss to the eighth-seeded Chestermere Lakers as Morin and Suzanne Van Brabant tossed in 10 points apiece.
The next game the Wolves beat the 12th-seeded Bowness Trojans of Calgary 48-26. Suzanne and Larissa Van Brabant sank 11 and eight points, respectively.
The Wolves are 25-5 overall with nine returnees from last year’s team that finished 0-3 at provincials.
The Wolves were an honourable mention in this year’s provincial rankings before zones, where they were seeded first overall.
