The No. 1-ranked 4A high school women’s basketball team in the province will be declared at the Paul Kane Classic.
The host Paul Kane Blues and the Jasper Place Rebels are on a collision course to determine the top team in the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association’s first rankings when Saturday’s final tips off at 8:15 p.m.
The Rebels, last year’s 4A provincial gold medallists, and the Blues, 14-2 overall this season, are listed 1A and 1B, respectively, in the preliminary top-10 rankings, which will be finalized next week at the earliest.
“It will really show were we stand in the province,” said Jenae John, a Grade 12 post with the 4-0 Blues in the metro Edmonton division one league. “It’s pretty important for the first ranking period.”
The Blues and Rebels are slotted on opposite sides of the eight-team draw and barring an upset they will go eyeball to eyeball for the third time in a tournament final. Previous results were 73-65 for the Rebels on Dec. 2 at the 20th annual Mike Dea Classic at St. Francis Xavier and 70-52 for the Blues on Dec. 16 at the 36th annual REB Invitational at Jasper Place.
“They’re good competitors and it’s fun to play them so whatever happens, happens where we end up,” John said.
The Rebels, the two-time defending metro division one champions, were winners of 45 consecutive games after losing the 2016 4A final before the Blues rocked their world at the REB.
Last year, the Rebels beat the Blues three times by scores of 64-41 in the final of the Paul Kane Classic, 55-51 at PK in the last league game before the playoffs and 58-51 in the provincial quarter-finals.
“Hopefully we’ll get to see JP again in the final,” said co-captain Tegan MacKinnon. “We’re very looking forward to that because the last time at the REB they didn't have Hailey (Fedick, a Grade 10 forward who was attending the cadet women’s national age-group assessment camp) and they didn't have their full team so it's a very good opportunity to play them again especially in our home tournament. It would be a good game for our final.”
The Blues tip-off the tournament at 2 p.m. Friday against the Parkland Immanuel Penguins, 1-4 in the metro division three league, and the winner plays the Chestermere Lakers or Spruce Grove Panthers in Saturday’s 11:30 a.m. semifinal.
The first game for the Rebels, 4-0 in league play, is 4 p.m. Friday against the Catholic Central Cougars of Lethbridge.
The St. Albert Skyhawks, also 4-0 in the metro division one standings and a solid No. 7 as the third-highest Edmonton zone team in the unofficial 4A rankings, hook up with the Medicine Hat Kwahommies at 8 p.m.
A potential Skyhawks versus Rebels semifinal would start at 1:15 p.m. Saturday.
The 12-game schedule includes the consolation final at 4:45 p.m. and the third-place playoff at 6:30 p.m.
“It’s going to be really exciting. We know that some of the best players in Alberta will be here,” John said. “REB was a big deal with a lot of strong teams and this should be pretty similar to that.”
The Blues are stacked with skill with eight returnees on a 13-player roster which includes six highly-regarded Grade 12s.
“It’s a good opportunity to show our home fans in our home gym what we're all about,” said MacKinnon of the first Paul Kane team in history to win the REB and the second St. Albert team since the Skyhawks were back-to-back champions in 2013 and 2014.
“For a lot of the young girls it’s also their first home tournament so it will be exciting for all of them,” MacKinnon added.
The Christmas break was more of a boot camp than a holiday for the Blues.
“We’ve had lots of intense practices,” MacKinnon said. “We’re working really hard because we all really want it.”
The first segment of the season was taxing at times but successful.
“It was very busy. We had three tournaments in a row and we had a couple of injuries right before the break but overall it was really good. We played hard, hustled and got the results we wanted,” said MacKinnon, a Grade 12 guard and fearless defender with a deadly shot from long range.
“I like to get all of my intensity from defence and the offence just kinds of flows through,” MacKinnon, 17. “We do whatever the defence gives us.”
The Blues are gradually putting all the pieces together as a serious contender for provincial honours.
“It’s what we’ve all been working towards,” John said. “We’re getting better as the season goes on. We started off kind of more like individuals but we're gelling more as a team now.”
John, 17, packs a punch coming off the bench as the team’s enforcer in the paint.
“I’m the biggest Grade 12 on the team (at six-foot-two) so I play that physical game inside, just being big under the hoop and getting rebounds and guarding the other team’s big post.”
