Skyhawks win bronze
The St. Albert Skyhawks finished a season to remember as bronze medallists at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association championship.The third win in 25 days against the Jasper Place Rebels was 58-56 in Saturday’s playoff at the 4A provincial women’s basketball tournament in Medicine Hat.
The worst start of the season left the Skyhawks trailing 15-2 but the metro Edmonton division one champions closed the gap to 33-25 at halftime and eventually grabbed the lead late in the third quarter against last year’s provincial gold medallists.
Brooke Froment and Kamryn DeKlerk hit timely three-pointers and then it became a free-throw battle at the end.
Teá DeMong, a metro Tier 1 all-star in her Grade 10 season, led the Skyhawks with 21 points, while DeKlerk and Froment chipped in with 11 and nine points, respectively.
“Everyone contributed, which was awesome,” said John Dedrick, head coach of the 29-7 Skyhawks, who were seeded second in the 16-team draw and the Rebels were No. 5.
The Skyhawks also beat the Rebels (30-6) 68-59 in league play at the SkyDome and 68-58 in the division one final at Jasper Place.
Visit www.stalbertgazette.com to view the team picture.
In Friday’s semifinals, the Skyhawks fell 58-47 to the No. 3 Bishop Carroll Cardinals of Calgary and the Rebels dropped an 89-60 decision to the No. 1 Centennial Coyotes of Calgary.
In the final, Centennial clipped the Cardinals 67-60.
Dedrick described the semifinal as a “flat” game with no legs and that put the Skyhawks into severe foul trouble against the aggressive Cardinals.
Mimi Sigue, a stalwart post player, didn’t play a lot because of foul trouble.
Down big-time at halftime, the Skyhawks willed their back to within three late in the third quarter but missed key shots down the stretch in the “what could have been” game.
The Skyhawks tipped off the tournament Thursday with an easy 98-29 victory against the No. 15 Charles Spencer Mavericks of Grande Prairie and in the quarter-finals pulled off a huge comeback to knock off the No. 7 Lethbridge Collegiate Institute Clippers 78-72 Friday.
LCI played nothing but zone and trapped a lot, which the Skyhawks don’t normally see, and as a result were down by 13 after three quarters before pulling off the comeback win.
DeMong, DeKlerk and captain Abby Morrison drained timely shots and Sigue was a workhorse on the glass. Kaya Vandermeer also provided quality minutes while netting 10 points.
The Skyhawks had a four-hour window between the quarter-final and semifinal to recover from the physical and emotional toll of the fourth-quarter rally against the Clippers and it showed in the first half against the Cardinals.
This is the fifth 4A season for the St. Albert Catholic High School women's basketball program after four-straight 3A provincial banners and in 2014 the Skyhawks were the 4A bronze medallists.
Last year’s provincial consolation champions lost two returning players, Bella Cuciz and Kenzie Thera, with season-ending injuries before the very first game and Thera was forced to give up basketball because of the severity of her injury.
Morrison, who has committed to the Alberta Pandas, is one of four returnees on the roster and with Nicole Dea were the only Grade 12s, but Dea didn’t play until mid-January while recovering from an injury.
“Pretty happy how the season turned out given our Kenzie and Bella situations and then dealing with Abby out for so long,” Dedrick said. “We were fortunate with the schedule being a little softer at the start to allow some of the (Grade) 10s to acclimatize themselves with each other and style of play.
“And obviously we’re thrilled with also winning the metro banner as well.”
Fifth place for PK
The Paul Kane Blues finished the season on a strong winning note as the consolation champions for fifth place at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association championship.The Blues, seeded eighth at the 4A provincials in Medicine Hat, rebounded smartly from the tournament-opening 65-61 loss to the No. 9 Western Canada Redhawks of Calgary with victories of 69-24 against the No. 16 Lloydminster Barons, 83-57 against the No. 12 Medicine Hat Kwahommies and 80-45 against the No. 11 St. Mary Saints of Calgary.
The fifth-place showing was the second-highest in team history.
A shaky six-minute segment in the second quarter against the Redhawks left the Blues with some tough challenges to overcome down by 20 but they roared back to tie it at 61 with a minute to go. A critical free throw miss by the Blues and a three-pointer by the Redhawks at the end of the shot clock put them ahead.
The Blues had a nice look to tie it but it was a long attempt that was a near miss.
Ella Stanley led the Blues with 16 points and nine rebounds.
In December, the Blues defeated the Redhawks 75-47 en route to winning the REB Invitational at Jasper Place.
Several bench players – Bella Gaulden, Thandi Khalema-Phillips, Chelsea Marko, Kayleena Garda and Raeesa Cherniwchan – played a ton of minutes against the Barons, as well as Jenae John and Deanna Missins. Gaulden contributed 12 points in the win.
John and Anika Steele, two post players, recorded 21 and 19 points, respectively, against Medicine Hat.
The top scorers against St. Mary were the Stanley sisters: 19 for Alesha and 17 for Ella and they also hit nine three-pointers between both of them.
The Blues finished a great season at 28-7 despite a few bumps in the road. The 57-44 loss to the Jasper Place Rebels last month in league play had a ripple effect on the overall placing in the metro Edmonton division one standings and the provincial draw and an injury to Ella down the stretch also had a bearing.
The Blues graduate six players – Alesha has committed to the Mount Royal College Cougars of Calgary – but have seven returnees, including Ella and Kaitlyn Kluttig entering their Grade 12 seasons who should dominate.
Provincial 3A results
The Sturgeon Spirits and Morinville Wolves gave it their best shot at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association 3A provincials last weekend in Cochrane.In the women’s tournament, the Wolves finished sixth as the No. 7 seed and Sturgeon placed 10th as the No. 6 seed.
The Morinville men wound up 10th out of 12 teams to complete a 16-12 season after starting out 1-6.
The North Central zone champions and honourable mention in the 3A rankings lost 91-75 to the Holy Trinity Knights of Fort McMurray, defeated the Bowness Trojans of Calgary 62-41 and suffered a 69-36 setback to the Cochrane Cobras.
In the first game, Holy Trinity shot 16-for-31 from the outside and the loss of Grade 12 point guard Bryn Karch to an ankle injury early in the fourth quarter after racking up 26 points had an effect on the Morinville team.
Chris Ogie posted 21 points and 13 rebounds in the loss.
A strong second half against Bowness pushed Morinville to victory. Evan Kohut’s 13 points and Ogie’s nine points and 12 rebounds contributed to the outcome with Karch sitting out the contest
Ogie registered nine points and 10 rebounds against Cochrane and Karch added eight points despite a sore ankle.
Morinville, the 3A consolation champions in 2016, lose four players to graduation with eight expected back.
The lady Wolves finished 21-10 overall with their best 3A showing since placing fifth two years ago.
The Wolves tipped off the 12-team draw with the 72-56 win against the Holy Rosary Raiders of Lloydminster and in the quarter-finals faced a tough defensive team in the No. 2-ranked Wetaskiwin Sabres and lost 62-41.
In the next game, the Wolves led by 17 points at half time and hung on for the 61-59 decision against Bowness.
In the fifth-place game, the Wolves turned in another strong first-half performance only to see the hot-shooting Cochrane squad pull away in the fourth quarter for the 69-56 victory.
The North Central zone champion Wolves lose three players to graduation.
Sturgeon made its provincial women’s basketball debut as the metro Edmonton division two champions and Edmonton zone finalists and a rash of injuries limited the Spirits to one win and two losses.
One of the injuries sidelined Samantha Runyon. The team’s leading scorer and best post defender this season sprained her MCL in the zone final, 60-49 loss to the St. Peter The Apostle Spartans, the eventual silver medalist at provincials.
Two players also suffered a concussion and a sprained ankle at provincials.
The top scorers in each game were Ashley Gaulden with 17 points in the 72-40 loss to Bowness, Haylee Sidor with 22 points in the 66-61 win against Holy Rosary and Jenessa Doctor with 13 points in the 55-46 loss to H.J. Cody Lakers of Sylvan Lake..
Sturgeon's overall record this season was 26-7, including a 12-1 mark in division two.
