Wednesday’s agonizing loss was a heartbreaker for the Paul Kane Blues.
The lady Blues were only seconds away from a crucial victory with second place up for grabs in metro Edmonton division one basketball when Georgia Sherstan came through in the clutch for the Spruce Grove Panthers.
Sherston’s dramatic three-pointer with 22 seconds remaining put the Panthers on top to stay at 56-55 after the Blues regained the lead during a tense last minute at Paul Kane High School.
The agony of defeat was etched across every player’s face after the team’s lengthy closed-door post-game review of the one-point setback.
“It’s not disappointing but it’s a tough loss,” said Bronwen Barter of the Blues, 18-6 overall after the result. “It’s definitely one to learn from but we’re not going to let it affect us. We’re going to let it fuel us. You can let it deflate us or fuel us and we’re going to let it fuel us and take it into playoffs and really play our hardest.”
The result left the Blues and Panthers tied for second with identical 6-2 records with one game remaining before the playoffs start Feb. 27.
“It’s a really big win,” said a gleeful Sherstan. “This game keeps us up around the top two (in the standings) so it’s really important.”
The fourth lead of the fourth quarter by the Panthers after trailing 43-39 to start the 10-minute period was Sherstan’s three-pointer after two missed foul shots. The second unsuccessful free throw was gobbled up by the Panthers for Sherstan to uncork an off-balanced Hail Mary basket.
“I was just hoping it would go in,” said Sherstan, who was still vibrating in delight over the game winner after the final buzzer. “It was pretty awesome. I was screaming and jumping when it went in.”
The Blues were forced to regroup during a timeout after rattling off eight consecutive points to lead by two before Sherstan delivered the shot to the gut.
“You could take it two ways; it could deflate you or you can feel it, like OK we’re only down by one and we’ve still got like 20 seconds left. I think we we’re still ambitious and we still had lots of time to get another basket,” Barter said.
An inbound play from the baseline with 11.9 seconds to go was unsuccessful as Barter’s shot narrowly missed the mark and the Panthers smothered the rebound.
“The inbound play didn’t work,” Barter said of the last-ditch scoring attempt. “I heard the countdown and it was six, five (seconds left) and I was like we’ve got to do something.”
The heart-pounding conclusion symbolized the playoff atmosphere surrounding the entertaining affair.
“It was just a battle all the time,” Sherstan said. “They’re a really good team and we’re super competitive whenever we play them.”
The Panthers and Blues are fourth and sixth, respectively, in the 4A provincial rankings.
“It was very intense. We definitely knew that they were going to come out with a strong game so we definitely had to bring our A game,” Barter said. “We kind of had a rough game (in Tuesday’s 71-64 win over the seventh-place Strathcona Lords) so the intensity was up and the pressure was up to really come out strong and win but…”
The Blues were outscored 17-15 in the third quarter but led by four at 43-39 to start the last period.
The persistent Panthers kept chipping away and with 2:46 remaining Jenna Harpe’s three-pointer left the Blues trailing 53-47. Harpe was the game’s top scorer with 26 points.
“We just play as a team and our coaches were doing a great job of drawing up plays,” said Sherstan, 17, a Grade 12 guard who collected seven points overall.
As the fourth quarter unfolded the Blues looked disjointed at times against the surging Panthers.
“We got a little bit scrappier and I think we felt the pressure so we were kind of rushing the offence and that’s where most of mistakes came from,” Barter said.
Down by six, the Blues briefly pulled it together with Anika Steele’s basket, followed by Alesha Stanley’s three-point play and then Barter’s go-ahead score off a terrific effort in the low post with 30.2 seconds left.
Barter was engulfed in a big group hug after tenaciously reeling in the rebound off a shot she missed and in traffic spun around to deposit the ball through the hoop while drawing the foul.
“The basket was right there so I have to get a shot up. There wasn’t a lot of time left and we’re down so you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. You’ve just got to do your hardest to either draw a foul or get the basket,” said the Grade 11 guard/forward who netted 13 of her 15 points in the first half.
Barter’s free throw failed to drop but Steele tracked the ball down and was fouled. Steele then hit one of the two free throws to make it 55-53. Steele finished the game with 14 points.
Up next for the Blues is ironically the Panther Classic this weekend in Spruce Grove. Friday’s score against the Western Canada Redhawks of Calgary, ranked third in 4A, was unavailable at press time.
Today the Blues will play the Panthers or Bishop Carroll Cardinals of Calgary at 9:45 a.m. in the consolation bracket or 1:15 p.m. in the semifinals.
The consolation final is 4:45 p.m. and the championship game is 8:15 p.m.
“We’re going into it to really solidify our offence and our drills and our systems for playoffs,” said Barter, 16.
The last league game for the Blues is Wednesday versus the Jasper Place Rebels (8-0) at 5 p.m. at Paul Kane. The defending league champions are ranked No. 1 in 4A. It’s also Senior Night and the Blues will honour their only Grade 12 player, captain Allie Hunder, during a halftime ceremony.
FREE THROWS: The St. Albert Skyhawks are on the opposite side of the draw from the Blues at the Panther Classic and Friday’s score against Strathcona was unavailable at press time.
The Skyhawks will face the Rebels or Medicine Hat Kwahommies today at 8 a.m. in the consolation bracket or 11:30 a.m. in the semifinals.
The Skyhawks are 5-3 in division one and 14-11 overall after beating the Harry Ainlay Titans 85-42 Wednesday.
Marina Cain paced the offence with 21 points, Brooke Froment tossed in 20 and Sarah Dedrick added 16 against the host Titans (0-9).
The next league game is Wednesday against the Panthers at 5 p.m. in Spruce Grove.
