The St. Albert Skyhawks showed no mercy while beating up their 3A rivals in high school women's tournament basketball.
The two-time defending provincial champions dominated both ends of the floor in Thursday's 79-41 blowout of the Edmonton Christian Lions in the Harry Ainlay Tri-Prov tournament opener.
"We were tenacious today. We were hitting the floor for loose balls and hustling back on defence," said Grade 11 forward Paige Knull.
In the first quarter eight Skyhawks combined to score 31 points. The Lions were held to only eight points in the 10-minute period and trailed by 33 at halftime.
After three quarters the Skyhawks led 65-24.
Grade 10 standout Kayla Ivicak spearheaded a well-balanced scoring attack with 16 points. Knull added 12 and Amber Easthope tossed in 10.
"We were able to rotate the ball a lot and get easy scores off of that," Knull said.
The 38-point margin of defeat flattered the Lions in the first tilt between the 3A provincial contenders. In last year's final in the Edmonton zone provincial qualifier the Skyhawks tamed the Lions by 30 points.
"We played really well as a team to win this game. Some days we're not exactly on but today we were. We meshed really well together and worked really hard," Knull said.
The No. 1 ranked Skyhawks are 17-4 overall in exhibition, league and tournament play this season.
The No. 3 ranked Lions are 4-2 for second place in the Edmonton public league's tier I standings.
"They were good competition and it was great to play them. We were able to see how we're ranked against them," Knull said.
Ranked second are the McCoy Colts of Medicine Hat. At provincials last year the Skyhawks beat the Colts 74-63 in the final.
"We need to keep our level of play up to stay No. 1 and maintain that level as we get closer to provincials," Knull said.
In Friday's semifinal the Skyhawks battled the St. Mary's Marauders of Prince Albert but the score was unavailable at press time.
Today the Skyhawks play Oak Park of Winnipeg or the host Harry Ainlay Titans in the third-place game at 2 p.m. or the 6 p.m. final.
Visit www.ainlay.ca for updates.
Perfect in premier
In the metro Edmonton premier conference the Skyhawks are a perfect 6-0 after Wednesday's close call against the Archbishop Jordan Scots, 5-1 in premier and the fifth-ranked 4A team in Alberta. The Skyhawks led by four at halftime and with less than five seconds remaining were up by three when they fouled a Scots player shooting a three-pointer. She hit all three free throws to tie it at 65. In overtime the Skyhawks outscored the Scots 11-3 to win 76-86 in Sherwood Park.
"We weren't exactly mentally prepared for that game. We came out slow and we needed to come out stronger because they're a great team and we want to be able to compete with them," said Knull. "In overtime we played really well. There was a lot of leadership on the floor, especially from our captains [Katie Burak, Zoe Downing and Kendall Lydon]. They were able to calm us down and tell us what we need to do in order to pull off the win."
The next league game is Monday against the Ardrossan Bisons (3-3) at 4:45 p.m. at the SkyDome.
