Finishing third with a lineup of seven players at the Paul Kane Classic was a remarkable result for the St. Albert Skyhawks.
"I'm proud of everyone on our team, especially our rookies for stepping up," said Payton McNeill, a Grade 12 post, after the Skyhawks beat the Catholic Central Cougars of Lethbridge 67-55 for the third-place trophy.
The Skyhawks were missing four players and the short bench put extra pressure on the three Grade 12s, one Grade 11 and three Grade 10s to gut it out in the tournament's three games.
Head coach John Dedrick is also on the limp with wonky knees, forcing the 2016 metro Edmonton Tier 1 women's basketball coach of the year to shout words of wisdom from the stands as Serge Froment and Rob Morrison handle the bench duties.
"We've been through a lot of adversities this year but we're trying to stay together as a team and help each other out," said McNeill, one of five returning Skyhawks on the 11-player roster. "We're fortunate enough to have amazing coaches and experienced players on our team and we wouldn't be pushing still if we didn't have the motivation left in us."
The Skyhawks have rallied around the acronym URAT – unified, resilient, accountable and tough – to get them through a difficult stretch in the season.
"We really showed those accomplishments today in our game," McNeill said.
The Skyhawks have struggled to practice five on five as the injuries mount. They range from Kenzie Thera, a starting Grade 10 guard, who suffering a season-ending ACL injury last month in the team's third game to the latest setback with Marina Cain, a Grade 12 offensive threat, who got clobbered in practice on the eve of the tournament.
"It's been hard especially since one of our main shooters, Marina, is out with a broken nose and a concussion but we all made it up as a team," McNeill said of the Skyhawks' tournament performance. "We thought we were going to have Marina with us but we still pushed and motivated each other and I was very proud of the team effort that we gave."
The Skyhawks rose to the challenge against the Cougars with contributions from all seven players while piling up the points for leads of 20-14 at the end of the first quarter, 43-24 at halftime and 52-39 after three quarters.
Brooke Froment, a Grade 10 Skyhawk, sank two three-pointers in the second quarter and her third of the game and the team's fourth made it 52-38 in the third quarter.
Froment and Sarah Dedrick, a Grade 12 post, ended the match with 11 points apiece.
Kaya Vandermeer, a Grade 10 forward, collected 10 points, and Lauren Cardinal, a Grade 12 forward and the team's player of the game, put in nine.
Abby Morrison, a standout Grade 11 guard and tournament all-star, struck for eight points and Bella Cuciz, a Grade 10 Skyhawk, added six, plus a key three-ball in the first quarter.
"Our tempo was very upbeat and we wanted to push the ball," said McNeill, who scored a game-high 12 points and was a fearless rebounder. "Another big thing with our team is to outwork people on the glass too so a key factor was rebounding definitely for us.
"We were also getting our open shots and when we're hitting them to keep taking them and to make adjustments when we're not."
The Skyhawks were coming off a 64-41 semifinal loss to the Jasper Place Rebels earlier in the day and the No. 1 4A team in the province went on to knock off the host Paul Kane Blues by the same score in the final.
A multitude of miscues resulted in deficits of 22-14 after the opening period, 39-18 at halftime and 57-29 with 10 minutes to go.
Dedrick led the way with 18 points against last year's provincial silver medallists.
The last time the Skyhawks played the Rebels it was Dec. 3 in the final of the Totem Hoop Classic and Jasper Place was victorious 66-36 at Ross Sheppard High School.
"We've definitely had a bit of growth (since that game) but we have some key points we need to work on," McNeill said of the team the Skyhawks lost to in the 2016 metro Edmonton division one final. "We're still growing and we still want to match up to them. We definitely want to get up to their level and maybe have an upset eventually."
The Skyhawks tipped off the tournament Friday with a tight 55-50 decision against the Centennial Coyotes of Calgary.
"We didn't give up at any point," McNeill said. "I didn't see any sort of lagging from any of the girls even though we were playing shorthanded."
At the halfway mark in the season, the Skyhawks are 3-2 in league play and 11-8 overall.
"Our coach wants us to reach a peak at a certain point in the season and even though we're having bumps along the road we're definitely trying to reach that peak. We're learning, we're still growing, we're making positive moves in our play and we're trying not to take steps backwards as hard as it is right now the way we're losing," said McNeill, 17, a rising star on the rugby pitch who lost a tooth to an elbow 4:42 into the Battle of St. Albert, as the Skyhawks went on to lose 53-49 to the Blues at Paul Kane on Dec. 19.
