In the race to three-peat as provincial champions, the St. Albert Skyhawks are the team to beat in high school women’s basketball.
The No. 1 ranked 3A team in Alberta is entrenched in the pole position to reach its eighth straight provincials. The St. Albert high squad is also perched to emerge as the Edmonton zone champions for the sixth year in a row.
“We really want it and we’re working hard in practice to get what we want,” said Amber Easthope, a versatile Grade 11 forward/guard for the top team in the metro Edmonton premier conference.
The Skyhawks’ overall record is 13-4 after crushing the Strathcona Christian Academy Eagles 88-33 in Thursday’s opening game at the inaugural Skyhawks Invitational Tournament.
Kendall Lydon led all scorers with 19 points. Haley England tossed in 18, Paige Knull added 17 and Zoe Downing and Kayla Ivicak had 10 apiece against the Eagles. The fifth ranked 2A team is 2-2 in the metro city conference.
The final of the eight-team draw tips off today at 5:30 p.m. at the SkyDome.
“It’s exciting to have our school come out and support us,” Easthope said. “We really want to win it for our school.”
The Skyhawks Invitational replaces the Optimist Showdown in St. Albert after the Paul Kane Blues withdrew as one of the co-hosts. The senior men’s and women’s tournament was staged at the Bellerose, Paul Kane, St. Albert High and Morinville high schools for the last 21 years.
The Skyhawks were crowed Showdown champions three of the last four years.
“This is our own tournament now so it’s definitely important to us to make a statement,” said England, a Grade 12 post. “If you play St. Albert High and you beat St. Albert High it’s a big deal, so every game we’ve got to come out with intensity to make sure that doesn’t happen because we want it as much, if not more, than anybody out there.”
In league play the Skyhawks are 5-0 and on pace to equal their historic 2010 undefeated campaign when they became the first St. Albert varsity women’s team to win premier honours in metro basketball.
“Obviously going undefeated would be great, but there are teams that we’re going to have to battle with and they are going to battle just as hard, too,” England said. “We can’t look past anybody because if you underestimate any team, you’re going to get a surprise out of them.”
The fifth win without a loss in premier was Wednesday’s 68-51 decision against the Spartans (4-1) at O’Leary high school.
“That was another statement game for us because we’ve had such a rivalry with O’Leary in the past and it’s been back and forth,” England said.
The Skyhawks outscored the Spartans 16-8 in the first quarter and led by 14 at halftime. After three-quarters the Skyhawks had the game under wraps at 51-31.
An aggressive defence at both ends of the court wore down the shell-shocked Spartans, ranked eighth in 4A.
“Everybody did their jobs. We really forced them to where we wanted them to go and then we worked really hard to get to our spots to stop them,” Easthope said. “We always want to play good defence. We strive for that every practice so our best defence is always expected.”
Lydon, a highly touted Grade 12 guard who recently committed to join the University of Alberta Pandas, sank a game-high 19 points, including three three-pointers. Knull and England dominated the paint with 17 and 15 points, respectively, in the team’s first game after the exam break.
“Offensively we were a little slow but we got into it. It was just hard having that long of a break. We’re not in as good as shape as we were before so we’re trying to get our legs back,” said Easthope, 16, who drained 10 points during an exceptional first half performance.
The next premier game is Monday against the Archbishop Jordan Scots (4-0), ranked fifth in 4A. Tip-off is 4:45 p.m. in Sherwood Park.
The Skyhawks are also entered in the Harry Ainlay Tri-Prov Tournament and their first game is Thursday at noon against the Edmonton Christian Lions, ranked third in 3A.
“It’s all about intensity now and keeping it up. As a team we have to focus so much more because there is so much basketball now. February is a really long month and it leads into March for zones and provincials [March 15-17 at Camrose],” said England, 17, who will play for Concordia University College next season.
