The St. Albert Skyhawks lowered the boom on the host team at the Paul Kane Invitational.
Saturday’s 44-point beatdown of the Paul Kane Blues in the tournament final was a satisfying result for the St. Albert Catholic High School women’s basketball team.
“It always feels good to beat another team in their home gym for sure,” said Teá DeMong, the tournament MVP, after the 84-40 show of force by the Skyhawks. “We came into it knowing they wouldn’t just give it to us so we had to work for it.”
The final was done like dinner at halftime with the Skyhawks in total command at 46-17.
“I’m very surprised. I definitely thought it was going to be closer,” DeMong said. “Our shooting definitely made it the difference that it was.”
The Skyhawks ripped it up during a game-altering 19-0 run in the second quarter for the 44-13 stranglehold with under two minutes left before halftime.
The Skyhawks continued to shoot the lights out in the third quarter by a margin of 21-13 and the last four baskets were three-pointers to make it 67-30 at quarter time.
The Skyhawks finished with 10 three-pointers as DeMong dropped six on the Blues and her last three-ball of the night was the 78-37 exclamation point with 4:36 to play.
“We definitely tried to push in transition so we could beat their zone and we didn’t have to set up and when we did set up in the zone, everyone was shooting well from the outside so that definitely helped us,” said DeMong, a prolific Grade 11 shooting guard.
The 2018 Metro Athletics all-star and second team All-Canadian at U17 nationals hit nothing but net during her 13-point outburst of the team’s 19-0 run in the second quarter that included two back-to-back three-balls.
“I shot the ball well,” admitted DeMong, who dialed up 19 points in the first half and 29 overall. “But as a team we shared the ball really well and that’s why the shots were open. We weren’t selfish with it at all.”
Bella Cuciz and Annacy Palmer contributed 13 points apiece as Cuciz hit two three-pointers and Palmer strung five points together in the third quarter as the Skyhawks continued to pour it on.
Tournament all-star Kamryn DeKlerk tacked up eight of her 10 points in the first half.
Visit www.stalbertgazette.com to view the team’s trophy picture.
As stunning as the Skyhawks looked against the Blues in what is unquestionably the most compelling high school sports rivalry in St. Albert, the 76-53 semifinal win against the Bishop Carroll Cardinals of Calgary “was a better game,” according to DeMong, 16.
“This game we shot the best in but that game we had to rely more on our defensive pressure and we really stopped Yvonne, too,” said DeMong of Yvonne Ejim, her U17 teammate on Team Alberta and second-team All Canadian at nationals. “Our bench is really deep so we definitely ran them and kept trying to keep them tired.”
Ejim, a six-foot-two Grade 11 post who played for last year’s U17 national team, recorded 15 points in the first half and a game-high 25.
Ejim also led all scorers in the third-place 70-62 victory over the Jasper Place Rebels with 29 points.
Bishop Carroll, last year’s 4A provincial silver medallist, rolled over the Skyhawks 64-42 in the third-place game at the District Four Invitational in Calgary with Ejim doing most of the damage.
“We were way more prepared definitely for this game. We have six Grade 10s on the team who had never played against a zone and they beat us down with their zone in our first tournament when we played them,” said Palmer, who scored nine of the team’s 25 points in the second quarter of the semifinal as the first half ended with the Skyhawks in front 47-27. “We also knew what to expect this time from their big player, Yvonne, so we just had to adjust.”
The Skyhawks closed out the first quarter with nine unanswered points to snap a 13-all deadlock and Palmer’s second three-pointer of the first half extended the lead to 31-18 with under six minutes to go in the second quarter.
After three quarters the Skyhawks were cruising along at 59-41.
“We came out with the right mentality in knowing that it wasn’t going to be an easy game and we had to start off well,” Palmer said. “Staying consistent throughout the whole game was a big part and we did really well with that in staying engaged and staying focused, and even when there was dips in the game we still pulled through.”
Palmer, 15, a Grade 10 guard/forward who attended Avalon Junior High School in Edmonton last season, was second in team scoring with 14 points behind DeMong’s 21 that included three three-balls during a 12-point first quarter and four in total during a 15-point first half before finishing with six overall from downtown.
DeKlerk generated nine points and Dakota Weidman added eight as 10 Skyhawks made the score sheet.
Friday’s tournament opener for the Skyhawks was an easy 79-35 decision over the St. Mary’s Saints of Calgary. Period scores were 20-9, 44-15 and 67-27.
Palmer led the way with 14 points, Maty Drefs wired three of the team’s eight three-points for 12 points, DeKlerk and Mimi Sigue tossed in 11 apiece and DeMong had 10.
As for the 4A provincial rankings, the way the Skyhawks powered past the Blues and Bishop Carroll should leave a lasting impression on the evaluators finalizing the first top-10 list of the season that will be revealed Monday by the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association. The scuttlebutt is the Skyhawks will be slotted anywhere from fourth (“We can do better than that,” DeMong said) to first.
The Skyhawks enter the exam break at 14-5, including a 5-0 mark as the defending metro Edmonton division one champions.
League play resumes Jan. 30 against the Leduc Tigers (3-2) at 5:30 p.m. at the SkyDome and the next tournament is Feb. 1-2 at St. Mary’s.
The Skyhawks and Blues (4-1) close out the regular season Feb. 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the SkyDome in the rubber match between the respected foes.
The Skyhawks lost last month’s REB Invitational semifinal to the Blues 79-75 in double overtime without DeMong, Palmer and Grade 10 guard Morgan Harris in the lineup because of commitments with the women’s national age-group assessment camps held in Toronto the same weekend as the Jasper Place tournament. Palmer and Harris, a pair of U15 provincial team players last year, attended the cadet tryouts while DeMong was at the U19 junior session.
Last season the Blues bested the Skyhawks 60-33 in the semifinal of the Mike Dea Classic in December at St. Francis Xavier High School and 55-51 in league play in February.
Two seasons ago, the Skyhawks beat the Blues 67-49 in the consolation bracket at the REB Invitational and a couple of days later lost 53-49 in league play at Paul Kane – it was the first victory by the Blues over the Skyhawks since 2011 – and in March the Skyhawks prevailed 57-55 in the 4A Edmonton zone three/four playoff at PK.
