4A provincials
The St. Albert Skyhawks and Paul Kane Blues are on opposite sides of the 4A draw at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association women’s basketball tournament in Medicine Hat.The Skyhawks are seeded No. 2 out of 16 teams at provincials and the first game for the metro Edmonton division one champions is 4 p.m. Thursday against the No. 15 Charles Spencer Mavericks of Grande Prairie.
The winner plays the No. 7 Lethbridge Collegiate Institute Rams or the No. 10 Leduc Tigers in Friday’s 11 a.m. quarter-final.
The No. 3 Bishop Carroll Cardinals of Calgary are also on the same side as the Skyhawks.
The Blues are seeded No. 8 and Thursday’s game against the No. 9 Western Canada Redhawks of Calgary starts at 2 p.m.
The winner will face the No. 1 Centennial Coyotes of Calgary or the No. 16 Lloydminster Barons in Friday’s 9 a.m. quarter-final.
The No. 5 Jasper Place Rebels, last year’s provincial champions, are slotted on the same side as the Blues.
The semifinals are Friday afternoon and Saturday the bronze-medal game is 2 p.m. and the championship final is 6 p.m.
Visit www.asaa.ca for the schedule and results.
Centennial jumped ahead of Bishop Carroll and Jasper Place in the overall rankings after the Coyotes knocked off the Cardinals by 17 points in the Calgary league final.
The Skyhawks, Rebels, Blues and Leduc are ranked first to fourth, respectively, as the metro Edmonton zone reps at provincials.
The Skyhawks, last year’s consolation champions, are 26-6 after polishing off the Rebels 68-58 in the metro league’s division one final March 3 at Jasper Place and it was the second win in 11 days for the St. Albert Catholic High School team against the defending division one champions.
The Skyhawks have not played Centennial or LCI this season but did beat Bishop Carroll 54-50 in the consolation bracket of last month’s Lethbridge Collegiate Institute Green and Gold tournament.
The Rebels are 28-4 overall, including a 4-1 record against the 25-6 Blues.
In December, the Blues powered past Western Canada 75-47 en route to defeating the Rebels 70-52 in the final of the REB Invitational at Jasper Place.
3A provincials
The Sturgeon Spirits and Morinville Wolves are competing for medals at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association 3A championships in Cochrane.The lady Spirits are making their provincial debut in basketball and Morinville swept the North Central zone men’s and women’s finals for tournament berths.
The 12-team women’s’ draw tips off Thursday with Morinville playing the Holy Rosary Raiders of Lloydminster and the Spirits are up against the Bowness Trojans at 10:45 a.m.
If both teams win, Sturgeon faces the W.R. Myers Rebels of Taber and Morinville battles the Wetaskiwin Sabres at 8:15 p.m. Thursday.
The semifinals are 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday the bronze-medal game is 1:30 p.m. and the championship final is 5:30 p.m.
The Spirits, the metro Edmonton division two champions, and Morinville are listed sixth and seventh, respectively, in the third ASAA rankings.
The St. Peter The Apostle Spartans of Spruce Grove are No. 1 and in the 3A metro Edmonton zone final defeated the Spirits 60-49.
Morinville, the 3A consolation champion in 2016, celebrated its seventh North Central banner in 10 years with victories of 67-27 over the R.F. Staples Thunderbirds of Westlock and 66-32 over the Edwin Parr Predators in the zone tournament last weekend.
Amy VanBrabant recorded 14 points and eight rebounds, Emma Vranas had seven points and four steals and Karina VanBrabant was also tough on defence while scoring nine points against the Thunderbirds.
Alicia Diberardino tacked up 11 points and Jenna McKinney added eight in the final against the Predators.
In the 12-team men’s draw Thursday, the Wolves and the Holy Trinity Knights of Fort McMurray hook up at 9 a.m. and the winner goes against the No. 1-ranked Camrose Trojans.
The Wolves are an honourable mention in the 3A rankings and in the zone tournament defeated the Hilltop Chargers of Whitecourt and the Barrhead Gryphons for a return trip to provincials.
