The Skyhawks survived a comeback charge by Paul Kane Blues in the Battle of St. Albert.
The metro Edmonton division one women’s basketball showdown went down to the wire as the Skyhawks prevailed 60-55.
It’s the tightest margin of victory by the St. Albert Catholic High School team against Paul Kane after losing the 2011 semifinal to the Blues 75-66.
“I’m really proud of my team that we were able to pull it out. It means a lot. It’s the Battle of St. Albert. It’s always a big game. Everyone comes out to watch and we’re happy we came out on the top side of it,” said Jamie Bain, a Grade 12 Skyhawk, after the frantic finish in front of a jacked-up crowd at the SkyDome.
“It was super intense with lots of fans on both sides.”
Paul Kane willed its way back from a 16-point deficit with under five minutes left in the second quarter to trail by nine at halftime and after outscoring the Skyhawks 14-9 in the third quarter the Blues pulled to within one with 7:15 to play.
On the next possession, Lauren Cardinal buried a field goal for the Skyhawks and 34 seconds later Alexie Pusch converted an offensive rebound. With 6:07 to go, Bain capped off the team’s eight-point run with her second three-ball of the night to make it 49-41.
With under two minutes to play and Paul Kane down by 11, Brit Mildenberger of the Blues drained her second three of the quarter, then converted a turnover into points before Aphia Ward sank two free throws with 72 seconds to put the Skyhawks ahead by eight.
Bronwen Barter dropped in a three for Paul Kane with 51 seconds on the clock before a series of missed shots at both ends of the court ended the suspense.
“We kept our cool. We didn’t let the crazy atmosphere get to us. We stayed relaxed, played our game and didn’t let anything they were doing get to us,” Bain said.
Paul Kane dramatically closed the gap on the Skyhawks after last year’s 73-46 setback and losses in the previous season of 61-36 at the Skyhawks Invitational Tournament, 69-31 in league play and 56-39 in the semifinals.
“It’s a step forward because we’ve lost by 30 to them before and now only losing by five I think it really shows everyone that we can beat them and we can play like them and play with them,” said Paul Kane captain Jenelle Desharnais. “After we got it down to one we gave them a few easy shots and I think that just comes down to mental toughness but we’ll come through next time and try harder.”
The Skyhawks, ranked fourth in 4A, improved to 8-1 in division one and 18-5 overall.
“It’s a super big win, not only standings’ wise but just because it’s St. Albert. It’s SACHS versus PK and there has always been a rivalry between us,” Bain said. “They’re a super good team. They play really well together and they play tough defence too.”
Paul Kane, ranked 10th in 4A, is 7-2 in league play and 16-9 overall with seven Grade 10s on the 13-player roster.
“This is the best we’ve played out of the three years I’ve been on the team and I think we haven’t peaked yet. There is so much more that we can do,” said Desharnais, a Grade 12 point guard. “We work really hard on defence and our offensive advantage comes from our defence.”
The positive performance against the Skyhawks was highlighted by six threes by Paul Kane, including a pair by Alesha Stanley and Mildenberger, who tacked up all nine of her points in the last quarter.
Barter scored five of her team-high 10 points in the second quarter. Desharnais also recorded five points in the same quarter for nine overall. Anika Steele was a strong presence in the paint while chipping in with eight points and Allison Hunder added seven.
“We did a lot of things well in this game. We haven’t been the strongest at talking and we did a lot of that this game so we were able to switch on all the screens and stop them from getting open threes, which they’ve usually had against us,” Desharnais said. ‘In the end it just came down to the pressure with all the noise and all that type of stuff and it was hard to hear each other.
“If we would’ve also made out foul shots it would’ve been a completely different game.”
Period scores were 18-9 after the first (Bain wired a three from the corner by the Paul Kane bench to end the quarter), 32-23 at the break and 41-37 after the third.
“We started really well. The first quarter we got a lead and we ran the ball really well. In the third quarter they had a push back and that frazzled us a little bit but we kept our heads in the game and didn’t let it get to us and kept playing,” said Bain, 17, an offensive catalyst at forward/guard with 12 points who spent a good chunk of the contest guarding the taller Steele.
Ward’s game-high 14 points included two of the team’s four threes and her second, a corner shot from in front of the Skyhawks’ fan base in the stands, put the count at 52-42 with 5:45 left.
Cardinal collected 10 points and Marina Cain added eight as the Skyhawks finished the win with eight players after Sarah Dedrick, a six-foot post, fouled out with 4:20 to play at 54-45.
Sam Dargis, Bain and Cain also had four fouls apiece as the Skyhawks struggled with their court discipline.
League play continues today with the Skyhawks in Sherwood Park to face the Archbishop Jordan Scots (4-3) at 5 p.m. and Paul Kane hosts the Edmonton Christian Lions (3-5) at 6:30 p.m.
Thursday both teams are competing on the same side of the draw at the Titans Tri-Prov Tournament at Harry Ainlay High School. Paul Kane hooks up with the Oak Park Raiders of Winnipeg at 9 a.m. and the Skyhawks, the 2015 champions, challenge the Duchess Park Condors of Prince George, B.C. at 3 p.m. at Louis St. Laurent School.
Friday the winners tip-off at 4 p.m. and the losing teams also play at 4 p.m.
Visit triprov.ainlay.ca for the schedule and results.
The Skyhawks will hoop it up with only eight players. Pusch, a starting Grade 11 guard, has accepted a scholarship from the Shawnigan Lake School Rugby Academy and in her last game with the Skyhawks scored five points against Paul Kane was a key player down the stretch. Grade 11 post Payton McNeill is still recovering from a concussion.
“This weekend would be good to play them again because we know what to expect now and we know how they play. They’re losing another player so that could give us a bigger advantage too,” said Desharnais, 17.
