The St. Albert Skyhawks are looking to bounce back from Monday’s loss to the Paul Kane Blues in a big way.
“It’s pretty disappointing but we’re going to learn from it and come back strong,” said Sarah Dedrick, a Grade 12 post, after the Skyhawks emerged from a lengthy post-game debriefing in the change room following the 53-49 gut wrencher.
“We’re not going to take this loss too hard.”
The Skyhawks held the upper hand over the Blues after the 2011 metro Edmonton premier (division one) semifinal victory by Paul Kane, 75-66 at the SkyDome, and the last win was 67-49 Friday at the 35th annual REB Invitational at Paul Kane High School.
“I’m not saying we played bad this game but we came out stronger I think at the REB tournament. We were hitting more shots and we were running the floor. We used their weaknesses to our advantage and today it just came out on the opposite end,” said Marina Cain, a Grade 12 guard/forward.
Dedrick agreed.
“We all played together really hard and we made good decisions and just played together as a team,” she said of Friday’s decision. “Today we both played pretty hard and in the end I guess they just scored more points than we did.
“Our effort was definitely there, it just wasn’t falling for us.”
A six-minute scoreless stretch to start the fourth quarter allowed the Blues to pump in 10 unanswered points for a brief 45-43 advantage.
“We weren’t looking inside as much as we should’ve been. We were taking long shots and they weren’t falling and PK got momentum,” Dedrick said.
The Battle of St. Albert was still too close to call until the Blues grabbed their third lead of the quarter, 51-49 with 1:43 to play, and the Skyhawks were unable to answer.
“We just needed to take a breath. We had to take it slow and just going through the plays,” Cain said. “We just needed to react better I guess.”
Cain, 17, had a shot at scoring the equalizer off an inbound play in the last minute but a defender managed to deflect the ball while it was in the air and it was reeled in by the Blues.
Stage fright was another factor in the second-half downfall as a 15-point lead slipped away from the Skyhawks.
“It was in their gym so they had the home court advantage and lots of fans and some of our girls are not used to it,” Dedrick said.
The Skyhawks made the most of their opportunities to lead 23-19 at halftime and Brooke Froment’s three-pointer with 5:17 left in the third quarter made it 37-22.
“Our shots were falling at that point. We were making good decisions and getting the ball where it should be,” said Dedrick, who sank seven of her 12 points in the first half and her last bucket knotted the count at 49 with 1:56 remaining.
The six-foot-one Skyhawk was also a major presence in the paint despite battling foul trouble.
Lauren Cardinal’s eight points included two baskets for equalizers; an offensive rebound with four minutes to go to tie it at 45 and a slick low post move with 3:20 to play to pull even at 47.
Cain also hit a pair of three-balls in the third quarter for eight points in total.
Abby Morrison, a Grade 11 guard and tireless playmaker, was arguably the best hoopster on the court.
The Skyhawks were missing Kenzie Thera, a Grade 10 starter, to a season-ending ACL injury and head coach John Dedrick is out of commission with injuries to both legs. Filling in for the 2016 metro Tier 1 women’s basketball coach of the year are Serge Froment and Rob Morrison.
The Skyhawks also lost the services of Payton McNeill, a noted rugby player and rugged post, after an elbow in the chops 4:42 into the contest sent the Grade 12 Skyhawk to the dentist with a busted tooth.
Regardless how you spin it, the result was deflating for the Skyhawks.
“Everyone is upset but I don’t think everyone is going to cry over it tonight. It’s over now and we’ll see them in the semifinals,” Cain said. “It’s always nerve-wracking playing them because we’ve all played together since we were little. We all know each other. We’re all friends off the court but when it’s on the court we’re in there to win and today it just comes down to a tough loss.”
The Skyhawks are now 1-2 in the metro Edmonton division one league and 7-7 overall when they host the Archbishop Jordan Scots (1-2) tonight at 6:30 p.m.
Last weekend the Skyhawks won the consolation final at the REB tournament, 77-59 over the St. Francis Browns of Calgary.
The 2016 4A provincial champions led 31-17 at the half as the Skyhawks mustered only four points in the second quarter.
Dedrick (charley horse) and Cardinal (flu) logged only a few minutes in the first half but McNeill picked up the slack after the break with 18 points and 25 rebounds as the Skyhawks whipped up 28 points in the third quarter and 32 in the fourth.
Morrison, Cain and Froment also hit some threes, forcing Calgary to come out of their zone coverage. Cuciz was able to get to the rim for points or draw fouls and Kaya Vandermeer helped support MacNeil inside.
The Skyhawks tipped off the tournament in the 65-61 loss to the Western Canada Redhawks of Calgary before downing the Blues.
Dedrick was the team’s top scorer against the Blues and blocked several shots, while McNeill and Morrison worked seamlessly together on pick and roll action.
Cain also nailed some timely threes from deep corners with the shot clock expiring.
“That was our best game because it was against a good team,” said Dedrick, 17.
