The St. Albert Skyhawks are slapping a positive spin on a negative result as the fifth-place finishers at the 4A provincial basketball championship last season.
Seeded second in the women’s draw, the Skyhawks suffered a disappointing eight-point loss to the 10th-seeded Medicine Hat Kwahommies in the quarter-finals. The Kwahommies went on to capture gold while the Skyhawks rattled off two victories to finish 33-5 overall in their second crack at the 4A provincials after winning a record four-straight 3A championships.
“We’ve got to use it as motivation,” said shooting guard Aphia Ward, one of seven returning Skyhawks from the 2015 metro Edmonton division one finalists. “We didn’t do as good as we thought we were going to do but Med Hat did way better than they thought they were going to do, which means we can do a lot better than people think we’re going to do or what we think were going to do this year.
“We have to use it as a learning experience and don’t count any teams out. Everyone is in it for sure.”
Head coach John Dedrick said a decision will be made before the Jan. 15 deadline to declare if the Skyhawks will challenge for a provincial berth in 4A or 3A.
The Skyhawks lost five players to graduation while adding three new players, including two Grade 10s.
Ward, Sam Dargis and Jamie Bain are third-year players and the only Grade 12s on the roster. They contributed to the Skyhawks’ bronze-medal victory in the team’s 4A provincial debut in 2014 and 30-5 record.
“It will be a good season. It will be challenging for sure but nothing we can’t handle,” Ward said. “I don’t expect anything less from us because we’re a good program and we have good work ethic. We’re definitely a lot smaller this year but that gives us just a different style of game. We have to run the floor and push and play a lot faster instead of playing from the inside, which we were used to doing last year.”
League play tipped off Monday and the Skyhawks rolled over the Bev Facey Falcons 70-42 at the SkyDome. Period scores were 16-10 after the first, 40-22 at the half and 56-31 entering the fourth.
A 10-point run in the second period left Facey trailing by 11 with under five minutes left until the break and a nine-point run in the third period made it 54-24 with a few minutes to go before quarter time.
Ward dropped in five of the team’s nine three-pointers for a game-high 21 points.
Grade 11 forward Lauren Cardinal scored nine of her 13 points in the second half.
Grade 11 post Sarah Dedrick, the tallest Skyhawk at six feet, tacked up 10 points and Bain added nine.
“Overall it was really good for the first league game for us,” said Ward, who drained all five of her threes in the first half. “We ran the floor really well and we took advantage of our mismatches in speed and size at guard. We were shooting really well too.”
The season lid-lifter for the Skyhawk was the 23rd annual Totem Hoop Classic last weekend at Ross Sheppard High School and they placed fourth overall out of eight teams.
“It was a really good experience for us, especially for the beginning of the season to see how we match up against other teams,” Ward said. “I think teams will underestimate us a lot this year since we lost so many players so it was good for other teams to see that we’re still competitors and we’re still in it for sure.”
The Skyhawks downed the Strathcona Lords 63-45, lost 65-53 to the Jasper Place Rebels, the tournament winners and 2015 4A provincial consolation champions, and in the third-place game lost 71-68 to Nechako Valley of Vanderhoof, B.C.
“JP was definitely a tough game but we held our own. We have them again next week (Monday at 5 p.m. at the SkyDome) so I’m excited to see how we do against them,” Ward said. “Despite the loss the game against JP was really good for us to get a tough game in early to see how we can play with them. The first half we played really well. We were up for the whole first half and then our defence started to get to us, as well as our short bench too. We have one out with strep throat (Grade 10 guard Beth Crothers) and we have only ten anyways so it was a little rough.”
Ward, 17, will be counted on to pile up the points, especially from outside the three-point arc, while providing leadership on the court.
“I have to be able to take tough shots. In our third-place game we were down four and I was set up for a three-pointer to put us down by one. It’s on me to make that shot and I made it so I have to be able to handle the pressure, as do all the Grade 12s and even the Grade 11s because there are so many of them. We just have to be able to stay composed under the pressure and not get inside of our own heads. If I did miss that shot, I can’t use that to bring myself down but use it to motivate myself to get the next one,” said the Beaumont resident. “Also, as a Grade 12 I have to keep everyone up and not get down on anyone.”
This weekend the Skyhawks are in Victoria for a 32-team tournament and they will also play the highly-ranked Oak Bay Bays in an exhibition.
