The St. Albert Skyhawks persevered at the 4A women's provincials to win the consolation championship for fifth place in the 16-team tournament at Lethbridge.
"It's a tremendous accomplishment for the team," said head coach John Dedrick of the Skyhawks' injury-plagued lineup throughout the season. "We were pretty happy winning the consolation/fifth-place game given all the adversity the team went through this year.
"Our veterans really came through at crucial times to either stop opposing runs or start one of our own."
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The No. 7 Skyhawks lost to 74-55 to the No. 10 Medicine Hat Kwahommies in the round of 16 before rattling off three wins in a row in the consolation bracket: 64-43 against the No. 15 Charles Spencer Mavericks of Grande Prairie, 72-69 in double overtime against the No. 11 Spruce Grove panthers and 65-58 against the No. 8 Bishop Carroll Cardinals of Calgary in the final.
Abby Morrison and Marina Cain went a combined 6-for-6 from the free-throw line late in the last OT period against the Panthers.
The halftime score was tied at 19 and in the third quarter the Skyhawks led by two. After 40 minutes the match was deadlocked at 59. The teams tacked up three points apiece in the first OT period before the Skyhawks outscored the Panthers 10-7 in the second extra period.
Sarah Dedrick led the Skyhawks in scoring with 20 points, Morrison drained 12, Cain had 11 and Brooke Froment added 10.
Payton McNeill also grabbed 12 rebounds and Dedrick pulled down nine.
"We had girls play 43 to 45 out of 50 minutes," said coach Dedrick of the marathon affair.
In the final, the Skyhawks posted period leads of 21-13 after the opening 10 minutes, 35-28 at halftime and 54-47 after three quarters.
Dedrick led the way with 15 points, followed by 12 for Morrison, 10 for Cain and eight for both Lauren Cardinal and Bella Cuciz.
Cardinal also reeled in 12 rebounds and Dedrick snagged nine.
The Skyhawks graduate Dedrick, Cardinal, Cain and McNeill from the metro Edmonton division one semifinalists.
This was the fourth 4A provincial season for the Skyhawks after winning a record four consecutive 3A provincial banners.
The Paul Kane finished the 4A women's provincials with one win and two losses as the No. 9 seed in the 16-team tournament.
In the round of 16, the Blues beat the No. 8 Bishop Carroll Cardinals of Calgary 79-49 and in the quarter-finals lost 58-51 to the No. 1 Jasper Place Rebels. The game was tied with a few minutes left before the two-time metro Edmonton division one champions pulled away from the Blues.
The Rebels went on to win the championship to cap off a 35-0 season.
The last game for the Blues was the 69-65 loss to the No. 5 Strathcona Lords.
In the metro playoffs, the Lords beat the Blues 67-63 in the division one semifinals.
The Blues finished 21-13 overall and next season will welcome back nine returning players, including six entering Grade 12.
The North Central zone champion Morinville Wolves pulled off a major upset in their opening game at the 3A men's provincials in Medicine Hat.
The No. 12 Wolves knocked off the No. 5 McCoy Colts of Medicine Hat 58-57 after battling back from a 12-point deficit in the second half.
A put-back layup by Chris Ogie with four seconds remaining put the Wolves on top. The Wolves had three shots at the put-back before Ogie finished off the basket.
Liam O'Connor led the Wolves in scoring with 17 points, Bo Cornell netted 16 and Ogie had 13.
The second game was the 84-63 loss to the No. 4 Brooks Buffalos in the quarter-finals.
The score was tied entering the fourth quarter when Brooks, playing its first game of the tournament, cranked up the intensity on defence and the Wolves turned over the ball for easy hoops.
Brooks also hit 80 per cent of their free throws down the stretch.
Cornell sank 17 points, O'Connor tossed in 14 and Ogie added 10.
The last game was against the No. 9 W.R. Myers Rebels of Taber and a key injury to Cornell with an ankle roll early in the third quarter and a lack of energy throughout the lineup after losing earlier in the day resulted in the 86-48 loss.
The Wolves were down by nine at halftime and in the fourth quarter emptied the bench.
Ogie drained 13 points and Cornell scored eight before the injury.
The Wolves lose Cornell and O'Connor to graduation from the first team since 2010 to win the North Central zone banner.
The St. Albert Skyhawks ended the season with consecutive victories in their first trip to the 3A men's provincials since 2012.
The No. 9 Skyhawks posted wins of 68-67 over the No. 5 McCoy Colts of Medicine Hat and 67-62 over the No. 10 Wetaskiwin Sabres in the C pool after dropping the tournament opener 87-75 to the No. 9 W.R. Myers Rebels of Taber.
Kyle Lepan was the top scorer against the Rebels with 21 points.
Against the Colts, the Skyhawks were down 67-62 with 35 second to play before pulling off the comeback victory. After a timeout, Justin Akkerman nailed a three-pointer with 15 seconds to go. He later stole an inbounds play, passed the ball to Tylar Dobish, who ran the clock down before scoring off a driving left-handed layup to knot it at 67 with 5.4 seconds on the clock. Dobish was fouled on the basket and sank the free throw for the three-point play to put the Skyhawks on top.
Dobish and Joe Marsigliano finished with 21 points apiece and Akkerman chipped in with 11 off the bench.
In the ninth/10th-place game, the Skyhawks trailed by eight with two minutes left before outscoring the Sabres by 13 down the stretch.
Dobish wired 15 of the team's final 20 points in the fourth quarter, including three three-pointers and the last one gave the Skyhawks their first lead of the quarter at 65-62, before capping off the win with two free throws.
Dobish pumped in a game-high 29 points and Marsigliano recorded 17.
The Skyhawks, a metro Edmonton division two team that was the third Edmonton zone team at provincials, have nine players eligible to return next season after losing Marsigliano and Lepan to graduation.
