The momentum from last weekend’s tournament triumph in Cochrane carried the Sturgeon Spirits to victory Monday in high school women’s basketball.
Tiana Campbell drained a game-high 28 points as the Spirits shocked the Paul Kane Blues 56-49 in St. Albert for their first win in the Metro Edmonton Premier Conference.
“It’s big for us. It means a lot,” Campbell said. “Last weekend was real big, too. We really clicked and you could see it on the court today. We’re playing well together now.”
In the tournament final the Spirits derailed the Highwood Mustangs by 35 points for their third decisive victory.
“We played really well. It was an away tournament so we got to know each other better and everything clicked for us,” Campbell said.
The 2011 City Conference finalists are 1-1 in premier after losing 98-32 to the St. Albert Skyhawks (2-0) in the league opener last week in Namao.
Last season the Spirits finished 11-4 overall in the City Conference. Six players are back to boost the team’s fortunes in premier.
“It’s a big jump. Last year there were games where we could play bad and still win. This year if you play bad you’re probably going to lose so you have to bring your A game every game,” said Campbell.
The Grade 12 shooting star was sick and didn’t play against the 3A provincial champion Skyhawks, but was on fire against the Blues. She lit up the Paul Kane gym for 20 points in the first half, highlighted by two three-pointers in the late stages of the second quarter. Her field goal halfway through the third quarter left the Blues trailing by 16. With less than five minutes to play, and the Blues threatening to close the gap, she nailed back-to-back jumpers to give the Spirits a 10-point edge on the scoreboard.
“Once one goes in your confidence just goes up,” Campbell said.
After the Spirits jumped ahead to stay early in the match, they posted leads of 16-13 at the end the first quarter, 36-22 at halftime and 45-40 after three quarters.
“The biggest thing today was our defence. We’re putting together a whole bunch of new people and it’s been hard at first on defence, but this game we really clicked. We all knew where each other was,” said Campbell, who celebrated a SAPAC junior high championship with the Morinville Wolves in Grade 9.
Tonight at 6:30 p.m. the Spirits host the O’Leary Spartans (1-0).
