The Battle of St. Albert heats up the hardwood in today’s 4A Edmonton zone playoff between the Paul Kane Blues and St. Albert Skyhawks.
Tipoff is 5 p.m. between the metro Edmonton division one senior women’s teams at Paul Kane.
The playoff determines the third and fourth Edmonton seeds at provincials, March 16 to 18 at Lethbridge.
The Jasper Place Rebels (12-0) and Strathcona Lords (6-6) are seeded first and second, respectively, after the Rebels crushed the Lords 70-38 in Saturday’s division one final.
A four-team playoff will declare the fifth Edmonton rep at provincials.
In December, the Skyhawks and Blues clashed twice in four days: 67-49 Skyhawks at the REB Invitational tournament at Jasper Place and 53-49 Blues in league play at Paul Kane for their first victory since 2011 against the St. Albert Catholic High School team.
The Blues (7-4) and Skyhawks (6-5) are coming off semifinal losses last week. The Skyhawks got smoked 68-26 by the Rebels at Jasper Place and the Lords stunned the Blues 67-63 at Paul Kane.
The third Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association 4A provincial rankings list the Rebels, 31-0 overall, at No. 1, the Blues remain at No. 5, the Skyhawks move up one notch to No. 7 and the Lords jump from an honourable mention to No. 9.
Tuesday’s semifinal results will determine Thursday’s finalists at the St. Albert Physical Education Council junior high city championships.
The girls’ final four in the A bracket were the Richard S. Fowler Falcons (6-0) versus the Sir George Simpson Voyageurs (4-3) and Vincent J. Maloney Marauders (6-1) against the Lorne Akins Gators (5-2).
The boys’ final four in the A Bracket were Lorne Akins (8-0) versus the William D. Cuts Crusaders (4-4) and Fowler (7-1) against VJM (4-4).
The semifinal scores were unavailable at press time.
Thursday’s Tier I finals are 6 p.m. for the girls and 8:30 for the boys at the SkyDome.
Last year Lorne Akins swept the Tier I finals as the defending champions by scores of 60-43 for the girls and 44-39 for the boys and both victories were against Fowler.
Time ran out on the Bellerose Bulldogs in Saturday’s metro Edmonton division two junior men’s final.
A gallant comeback charge fell short in the 75-69 loss to the J. Percy Page Panthers (10-1) at Memorial Composite High School.
The pool A Bulldogs, 9-0 entering the final, trailed by 21 points after the pool B Panthers pumped in a field goal and three-pointer in the opening 50 seconds of the second half to lead 46-25.
After three quarters it was 56-38 Panthers and with 7:16 to go the score was 64-45 when the Bulldogs busted loose with 14 consecutive points on Brad Perry’s three-point play, three-pointers by Sajad Karimi and Perry, and another three plus a layup off a steal by Karimi before the Panthers hit one of two free throws with 4:57 left to lead 64-59
The Bulldogs kept chipping away at the deficit as the Panthers battled to stay on top.
Four times the Bulldogs pulled to within four of the leaders at 65-61 on two free throws by Perry, 68-64 on Jacob Turpin’s field goal, 70-66 on two free throws by Turpin and 72-68 on Karimi’s field goal with 70 seconds on the clock.
With 37 seconds remaining, Perry drained his first foul shot attempt to put the Bulldogs in striking range at 72-69. His second attempt was unsuccessful and the Panthers reeled in the ball and went down court but missed a shot. The Bulldogs recovered the ball but turned it over in front of their bench and were forced to foul. The Panthers made both free throws for insurance points with 10.1 left to widen the gap to 74-69.
Karimi wired 10 of his team-high 19 points in the last 10-minute period and finished the contest with four three-pointers.
Perry tossed in 16 points, plus two three-balls, Marcus Kuwar-Rogers added 10 and Noe Tchomo chipped in with nine.
The Bulldogs dropped in 11 three-points in total.
Last week the Bulldogs knocked off the Austin O’Brien Crusaders (6-4) 65-61 in the quarter-finals and Queen Elizabeth Knights (7-3) 75-73 in Friday’s semifinals at Bellerose for a shot at the championship banner.
A number of players were also involved with the 48-hour Bellerose bikeathon fundraiser for cancer research that same week.
The first loss after six wins in a row by the Bellerose Bulldogs was Friday’s metro Edmonton division three senior women’s final.
The Bulldogs finished 8-4 in league play after the 52-43 setback to the M.E. Lazerte Voyageurs (7-5) at Jasper Place High School.
The last loss for the Bulldogs before the winning streak was 45-41 at Lazerte on Jan. 9.
Lazerte posted period leads in the final of 12-10 after the opening 10 minutes, 29-23 at halftime and 40-37 after three quarters.
Lazerte jumped ahead to stay after a three-pointer by Jaylee Calahasen knot it at 15 for the Bulldogs with 7:49 left in the second quarter.
A few minutes later, a three-ball by Wyllow Townsend was followed by a three by Lazerte to make it 23-18.
The Bulldogs closed out the third quarter with a 12-4 run.
It was 44-39 Lazerte when Olyvia Ayotte drained a shot for her team-leading 12th point of the match.
A pair of free throws by Taylar Kosloski left the Bulldogs trailing 48-43 with 43.5 seconds remaining.
In the round of eight, the Bulldogs were seeded fourth and Lazerte was seventh.
The Bulldogs’ roster consisted of three Grade 12s, five Grade 11s and one Grade 10.
The following St. Albert SLAM teams finished first in the Edmonton Youth Basketball Association division playoff finals last weekend.
Bantam B girls: SLAM Rivet 37, LCBA Lake 35.
Mini A girls: SLAM Greven 35, Southwest Hoyt 32.
Mini B boys: SLAM Fischer 61, Southwest Arnett 59.
Podium results were also achieved by the following SLAM teams.
Bantam boys: SLAM Jeffrey, second place.
Mini girls: SLAM Haley, third place.
Midget girls: SLAM Froment, third place.
Midget girls: SLAM Thorsley, third place.
Up next are the Youth Provincial Championships for several SLAM teams.
