The St. Albert Skyhawks are coming out swinging to land the knockout punch in today’s heavyweight title bout between the top two 4A women’s basketball teams in Alberta.
Last year, the Skyhawks took it on the chin against the Spruce Grove Panthers in the division one showdown in the metro Edmonton playoffs after back-to-back undefeated championship seasons.
“It’s a good second chance for us to do what we wanted to do last year and show people who we really are,” said co-captain Marinya Marcichiw.
The rematch between the 4A contenders for provincial honours tips off at 5 p.m. at Jasper Place High School. Admission is $5 and youths 12 and under get in free.
“Another crack at the title and another crack at Spruce Grove means a lot to us,” said forward Jamie Cole. “This is one of our end goals for the season.”
The No. 2-ranked Skyhawks are 30-3 overall after a difficult 54-42 decision against the Jasper Place Rebels (11-4) in Wednesday’s semifinal at the SkyDome.
The No. 1-ranked Panthers are 28-2 overall after beating the Paul Kane Blues (11-4) by 32 points in Wednesday’s playoff at Spruce Grove.
The Skyhawks and Panthers are 14-1 in league play and the St. Albert Catholic High School team finished first by defeating the Panthers 67-57 in Spruce Grove.
Four days later in the final of the Panther Classic the Skyhawks fell to the tournament hosts 60-49.
Last year, the Skyhawks suffered losses to the Panthers in league play and the finals of the Panther Classic and division one playoffs before toppling the Spruce Grove squad 56-51 in the bronze-medal game at provincials.
“It’s definitely a rivalry between us,” Marcichiw said. “We’re 1-1 right now this year so it’s time to show them that we can beat them more than they beat us.”
The difference between the two games against the Panthers last month boiled down to energy for the Skyhawks.
“We came into the first one ready to go and then we had two games on Saturday (at the Panther Classic) and we just weren’t there mentally in the last game,” said Marcichiw of the team’s 71-64 win over the No. 5-ranked 4A Cardston Cougars before them bowing out in the final.
Today’s result will also determine the No. 1 and No. 2 Edmonton zone reps in the 16-team draw at provincials, March 19 to 21 at Jasper Place.
This is the second 4A season for the Skyhawks after winning an historic four-consecutive 3A provincial crowns.
The Skyhawks have medalled at provincials six of the last seven years, starting with 3A bronze in 2008. The next year they failed to win a game at provincials before rattling off four 3A championship victories.
Last year’s 4A bronze medal was as good as gold for the Skyhawks in their 4A debut.
“We have the potential to take it this year and we just need to grasp that potential,” Cole said. “It’s a huge opportunity for us.”
The Skyhawks are surging towards their fourth league championship in six years after a tougher than expected playoff tilt against the No. 7-ranked 4A Rebels.
In previous games against the Rebels, the Skyhawks lost 61-46 at Jasper Place and won the Titans Tri-Prov semifinal 73-48 at Harry Ainlay High School.
“They’re a good team and we have lost to them,” Marcichiw said. “It was too close today and we could’ve done better but it was still a well played game by us.”
The Skyhawks posted period leads of 12-10 after the first 10 minutes, 26-20 at halftime and 39-35 after three quarters.
“These games are fun. They allow us to showcase our abilities against really good teams and still play a good game,” Cole said. “We came out totally prepared and we executed our game plan. We showed how good we can compete and we’re going to show it in the final as well.”
The Skyhawks gained some traction after Marcichiw’s three-pointer with 5:21 left in the second quarter made it 19-16 and less than a minute later her turnaround jumper left the Rebels trailing by five.
The first half ended with baskets by Brielle Wise and Jessa Ivicak after the Rebels pulled to within two of the Skyhawks.
Wise’s three-pointer opened the scoring in the second half and Marcichiw’s basket with 4:04 to go before quarter time put the Skyhawks up 35-32.
After the Rebels tied it at 35 with 1:47 remaining in the quarter Cole converted a Wise pass into the go-ahead basket and before the buzzer Wise finished off an inbound play with two ticks on the clock.
A six-point run to kick off the last quarter was highlighted by Aphia Ward’s three-pointer with 7:09 to play to widen the gap to 46-35. Less than a minute later the Rebels scored their first points of the quarter on a field goal.
In a classy move by head coach Paige Gaudreau to acknowledge the team’s senior players, the game ended with all five Grade 12 Skyhawks – Marcichiw, Cole, Wise, Ivicak and Riki Steward – on the floor together in the final home game of their careers.
“That was super nice,” said Cole, 17. “It means a lot to us just because we’ve all played three years on this team (39-1 overall in 2012/13 and 30-5 overall last season) so it’s kind of the last end point for us. It’s our last game in our home gym as the home team and the fact that we won obviously makes it nicer.”
Marcichiw, 18, fought back tears when asked to describe the final curtain call at the SkyDome.
“It’s quite emotional. It’s the last league game all five seniors are going to play in here so it was really nice to win this semifinal in your last game in your home gym,” said the prized recruit of the Alberta Pandas. “It’s a great feeling to be a Skyhawk right now. This program is great. It develops every single player really well. It’s just overwhelming pride to be part of this team.”
Marcichiw closed out the scoring with a pair of free throws with seconds remaining for a team-high 18 points, including 13 in the first half.
Wise finished with nine points, Steward added seven and Cole and Ivicak had six apiece.
FREE THROWS: The No. 9-ranked Blues host the No. 7-ranked Rebels to determine the third and fourth Edmonton zone reps at provincials Tuesday at 5 p.m.
The Blues rallied to defeat the Rebels 55-51 in December at Paul Kane.
Last year, the Blues were the third Edmonton reps at provincials and they finished 2-2 as the consolation finalists.
The Blues are going to their third provincials in four years.
