Ross Sheppard – The bar was set in Saturday’s final of the Totem Hoop Classic for the St. Albert Skyhawks to surpass in high school women’s basketball.
The Jasper Place Rebels – silver medallists at the 2016 4A provincials with no Grade 12s in the lineup – humbled the Skyhawks by 30 points.
“They’re a returning team so we were expecting for them to be more polished,” said Abby Morrison, a valuable Grade 11 guard, after the 66-36 loss. “Everyone put a really good effort in today and we worked our hardest, which is really good to see.”
The tournament all-star is among five returnees from the 29-10 Skyhawks as division one finalists and fifth-place 4A provincial finishers.
“We did lose three of our main scorers (Jamie Bain, Sam Dargis and Aphia Ward) from last year so you can see that we would be underdogs but we’re going to use that to kind of fuel us that everyone kind of undermines us,” Morrison said.
The Skyhawks tipped off the season-opening tournament with six new additions to the 11-player roster.
“We’re definitely going to take our lumps early. We’re a really young team. We have five Grade 10s but they all showed really well here,” Morrison said.
The outlook remains bright for the senior women’s team at the 3A St. Albert Catholic High School that has competed at the 4A provincials the last three seasons.
The 61-53 loss to the Rebels in the 2016 division one final also marked the fifth-straight appearance in the championship match and the third in a row since the merger of the metro and public Edmonton leagues.
“I’m looking for either the same or even a better provincial finish this year for us and to make it back to the city finals,” Morrison said. “We’re going to be a very tenacious and energetic team that’s just going to run teams so when they get tired we’re still going. We’re going to outwork a lot of people and they’re not going to expect to see us coming.”
The Skyhawks reached the final of the 24th annul Totem Classic after beating the division one Strathcona Lords 42-40 and the division two pool B Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds 80-32.
Sarah Dedrick, a Grade 12 post, tossed in a team-high 10 points and Morrison tacked up nine in the physical affair with the Lords.
Morrison also drained 14 points and Dedrick added 12 against the host Thunderbirds.
Morrison, 16, was the team’s top scorer in the final with 11 and Payton McNeil, a rugged Grade 12 post, added eight.
The Skyhawks trailed 17-8 after the first quarter, 38-17 at halftime and 48-30 after three quarters.
Kenzie Thera, a Grade 10 guard who is expected to provide a major contribution to the Skyhawks, injured a knee 3:32 into the contest after netting two baskets.
Thera joined another injured Skyhawk on the bench, as head coach John Dedrick recently wrecked a knee while showing off his volleyball skills and is now running the show sitting instead of standing on the sideline.
In the second half, Morrison hit a couple of three-pointers as the Skyhawks closed the gap to 42-30 before the Rebels ended the third quarter with a three-ball to cap off a six-point run.
The Rebels started the last 10-minute period by stringing together 16 consecutive points, including a pair of threes for seven in total, before the Skyhawks replied with a basket by Lauren Cardinal with 4:57 to remaining.
“This was our best game (in the tournament) even though the score might not represent that but just in the way that we got to execute against a strong team is going to help us improve for the rest of the season,” Morrison said.
The Rebels are the team to beat in division one and the last time the Skyhawks finished on top against Jasper Place was by 12 points in the 2015 semifinals. Last season the Skyhawks were 0-5 against a Rebels’ lineup of eight Grade 11s and four Grade 10s and the last loss was 81-69 in the round of eight on the championship side of the 4A provincial draw.
The next tournament for the Skyhawks is this weekend’s high-calibre event in Victoria, including Thursday’s exhibition against the Oak Bay Bays, ranked No. 2 in B.C. in the pre-season, followed by the 35th annual REB Invitational, Dec. 15 to 17 at Jasper Place.
The Skyhawks and Paul Kane Blues are on the same side of the REB draw and depending on the opening day results – Blues versus the Lethbridge Collegiate Institute Clippers at 4 p.m. and Skyhawks versus the Western Canada Redhawks of Calgary at 6 p.m. – they could go toe-toe Dec. 16 in the 2 p.m. consolation bracket or 8 p.m. semifinals.
The Skyhawks and Blues will also pack the stands Dec. 19 in league play at 5 p.m. at Paul Kane.
“What matters to us is our league games. We’re going to focus on that and this (tournaments) shows us what we need to work on,” said Morrison, 16.
The tradition of excellence for the Skyhawks was launched during their record-breaking four in a row 3A provincial banners before moving up into the 4A ranks to win bronze in 2014.
The run of greatness for the Skyhawks included winning the premier (now division one) championships in 2010, 2012 and 2013 during a stretch of six metro finals in the last seven years.
The 2011 non-final year was when the Blues knocked off the Skyhawks in the semifinals, which was also the last time Paul Kane beat its St. Albert rivals.
“We definitely go into the season with the idea that we have to earn everything and it’s not given to us just because teams in the past were so strong. We don’t just get to be that good. We have to practice just as hard as they did,” said Morrison, who played for the U17 University of Alberta Pandas in the Canada West Prairie Elite Basketball League, an April to June circuit, and the U16 provincial team over the summer.
The Skyhawks were also represented in the CWPEBL by Cardinal, a Grade 12 forward, and Grade 10 newcomer Aine Murphy on the U17 and U15 MacEwan Griffins, respectively.
