The rubber match in the Battle of St. Albert was stretched to the limit in high school women’s basketball.
Wednesday’s test of strength between the St. Albert Skyhawks and Paul Kane Blues was decided late in the 4A Edmonton zone three/four playoff battle at Paul Kane.
Clutch three-pointers by Brooke Froment and Abby Morrison 32 seconds apart propelled the Skyhawks past the Blues by three with 1:52 remaining and Payton McNeill’s free throw on her second attempt with 73 seconds to play closed out the remarkable 57-55 affair.
“It’s a very rewarding win because we want to go off into provincials on a really good note and in stride so this was a really good game for us,” said Morrison, who drained her third three-pointer of the match and the team’s seventh to put the Skyhawks on top at 56-53.
The Skyhawks and Blues are among five metro Edmonton division one qualifiers for next week’s 16-team provincials in Lethbridge.
“To get the third seed, which is going to put us in a better position for our first round game, it’s really good,” Morrison said. “It’s a great sendoff for provincials. We played as a unit today, which is really important, so we’re going in as a team as well.”
The result was extra special for the Skyhawks, the seventh-ranked 4A team in the province, after letting the lead slip away late in the 53-49 December showdown in league play at Paul Kane.
A few days before the Blues pulled off for their first victory since 2011 against the St. Albert Catholic High School team, the Skyhawks knocked off their crosstown foes 67-49 at the REB Invitational tournament at Jasper Place.
“Of course, it’s the Battle of St. Albert rivalry, so it feels good especially to redeem ourselves after losing to them in league,” Morrison said. “It just happen to go in our favour this time. PK is a great team and it’s really great to play against them but we just played better today.”
The Blues, ranked fifth in 4A, were bummed out by the loss on the eve of provincials.
“It’s always a good game against the Skyhawks. There is a lot of hype when you get the two St. Albert high schools playing against each other but right now our main focus is provincials and we were really trying to get that higher seed so that was a little dagger to get a lower seed but we’ve got to tough it out,” said Anika Steele, a Grade 11 post.
“We really wanted to get after it tonight but unfortunately some really clutch shots didn’t fall for us,” Steele added. “Honestly, it just came down to who wanted it more and I think that we both wanted it equally more but our shots were not dropping.”
In the first half, the Skyhawks briefly held the lead twice on three-pointers by Marina Cain in the first quarter and Morrison with 4:26 left in the second quarter to go up 18-16.
At halftime it was 25-20 Blues on the strength of Ella Stanley’s 11 points, including three three-pointers.
The Skyhawks were guilty of failing to put the ball through the hoop during several scoreless stretches in the half.
“Our shots weren’t falling but it didn’t mean that we weren’t going to stop taking them. We knew they would start falling eventfully,” Morrison said. “We just made sure to get all of our energy from our defence so if our shots are not falling we’re going to make sure that we get a stop the next play on defence.”
Sarah Dedrick cued the comeback with 11 of the team’s 17 points in the third quarter to trail by one and the last 10-minute period on tap.
The Grade 12 post deposited the Skyhawks’ opening nine points of the quarter on five free throws and two field goals.
The Skyhawks' leading scoring with 16 points was also a dominating figure in the paint with numerous rebounds, as well as rejecting Jenae John’s shot and stuffing Allie Hunder in the second quarter and stuffed Tegan MacKinnon in the fourth quarter.
“When Sarah was finishing at the rim through contact it got the team really fired up,” Morrison said of Dedrick’s ability to attack the rim with authority.
Down 38-37 after leading three times in the third quarter, the Skyhawks continued to pressure the Blues and eventually regained the lead and held it for several minutes during back and forth scores by both teams before Hunder’s three-point play tied it at 45 with 5:52 to go.
The Blues kept going offensively as Bronwen Barter’s layup after intercepting Morrison’s pass was followed by Hunder’s offensive rebound and 10 seconds later she made two free throws to make it 51-45.
The Skyhawks answered with Froment sinking two out of three free throws after she was fouled on a three-pointer attempt and 32 seconds later wired a three-ball to pull within one of the Blues.
Hunder then popped in a pair of free throws with 2:37 left for 11 points in the quarter and 15 overall in the contest.
The Skyhawks replied with Froment’s second three-pointer to even the count at 53 with 2:24 remaining. The tying basket marked the 10th point in a row by Froment in the quarter.
“When Brooke hit that close game shot it was awesome,” said Morrison of the Grade 10 Skyhawk.
The game-winning basket was a straight-ahead heave-ho by Morrison, a tireless Grade 11 guard who finished with 13 points.
“I pride myself in wanting to be someone my teammates can count on, especially in tough moments so hitting that shot was a good feeling to show they can trust me in a very close game,” said the straw that stirs the drink for the Skyhawks.
The Blues cut the deficit to one as Steele twice converted one of two free throws with 1:37 and 1:24 to play.
After Skyhawks went up by two on McNeill’s free throw, the teams exchanged missed shots and turnovers.
The last chance for the Blues with 0.4 on the clock was the baseline inbounds play by Alesha Stanley to her sister, Ella, and the corner shot was unsuccessful.
“We really worked hard throughout the whole game but we could’ve been a little more like get after the ball in the last few minutes like really, really want it,” said Steele, who tacked up eight points in total while battling foul trouble.
“They definitely hit some clutch threes at the end.”
The loss was only the 11th in 31 games for the division one semifinalists.
“We’ve had a very good season but we’re coming off a few tough losses. We just got to want it and I know our team wants to succeed at provincials,” Steele said of the Blues, 1-2 at the 2016 provincials after reaching the consolation final the previous two years.
Prior to squaring-off against the Skyhawks, the 7-4 division one Blues suffered setbacks of one point to the Spruce Grove Panthers and four points to the Jasper Place Rebels, the No. 1 4A team at 31-0, in league play and dropped a four-point decision the No. 9-ranked 4A Strathcona Lords in the division one semifinals. All three games were played at Paul Kane and the home team was in position late in the fourth quarter to defeat the Panthers and Rebels and rallied to tie the Lords with 1:38 to go before fading away.
“Our team has to learn to finish off the game. We’ll get up in certain points and then we’ll kind of be with the other team and we’ll match them instead of keeping our pace, like leveling up. We just have to finish strong instead of going down to their level,” said Steele, 16.
Meanwhile, injuries grounded the Skyhawks during a 6-5 division one campaign that ended the team’s streak of five-straight trips to the final and six in the last seven years.
“We were extremely resilient this season. There are not many teams that can say they’ve had to deal with the amount of injury setbacks that we’ve had. We’ve just really pushed through as a team,” said Morrison, 16, one of five returnees from last year’s fifth-place 4A provincial finishers.
