The St. Albert Skyhawks beat themselves instead of the other team in Saturday’s final at the 14th annual Mike Dea Classic.
The two-time reigning 3A provincial high school women’s basketball champions were plagued by fouls and shaky shooting in the 88-71 loss to the Dr. Martin LeBoldus Golden Suns of Regina at St. Francis Xavier High School.
The Suns led 21-18 after the first quarter, 45-34 at halftime and 68-50 after three quarters.
“We didn’t perform as well as we should have,” said Grade 12 post Haley England. “We knew what we had to do and we came out and did it at the beginning, but then there were spurts where foul trouble got us out of our game and into what they wanted to do.”
In the first half Grade 12 post Katie Burak was saddled with four fouls and Grade 12 sharpshooter Kendall Lydon had three. Both players fouled out in the fourth quarter.
Burak, a tournament all-star, was held to only a field goal in the second quarter before leaving the game with the Skyhawks down by 17 points.
Lydon scored 11 of her 22 points in the last quarter before receiving her fifth foul with 1:35 to play. She also led the Skyhawks with three three-pointers.
England, 17, was the team’s top scorer with 22 points, including 14 in the second half. The five-foot-eight Skyhawk was also a tenacious rebounder when she wasn‘t pouring in points from the paint.
“I felt comfortable out there but it’s really all about the team. If we all work together, everyone is going to feel comfortable,” said England, one of eight returnees on the Skyhawks.
Grade 11 forward Paige Knull chipped in with 11 points and played fearless defence against the taller Suns who had four players with Saskatchewan provincial team experience.
Tournament MVP Charlotte Knot pumped in 22 of her game-high 34 points in the second half. Sara Hubenig, a tournament all-star, and Quinn Dornstauder added 15 apiece for the Suns.
“They were definitely good competition. Their style is a lot like ours, except they have more size than we do,” England said.
In Friday’s semifinal Lydon tossed in 22 points as the Skyhawks routed the Archbishop Jordan Scots 80-44. England tacked up 19 and Knull had 13 against the Sherwood Park team.
“We did what we do best, which is trap and run and trap and run and we just wore them out. With our bench being as deep as it is we could just go through players and there was no drop off so that’s where we beat them,” England said.
In Thursday’s season debut the Skyhawks throttled the Sturgeon Spirits 77-29 to kick off the Dea tournament.
“This tournament was a really good team learning experience. We came together really well and we played as a team, even though we haven’t been playing together that long as a team. We’ve still got a lot of growing to do,” England said.
Last year the Skyhawks bowed out in the final to the O’Leary Spartans 52-41.
On Monday the Skyhawks opened their Metro Edmonton Premier Conference exhibition schedule on the road with a convincing 96-37 victory against the Ardrossan Bisons. Lydon racked up 27 points, England dropped in 16 and Grade 12 guard Zoe Downing had 12.
Today’s exhibition between the Skyhawks and the Scots tips off at 4:45 p.m. at the SkyDome.
League play starts next Monday, when the Skyhawks visit Sturgeon at 5 p.m.
Next week the Skyhawks will compete in the 30th annual REB International Invitational Tournament at Jasper Place High School. Thursday at 8 p.m. they play South Kamloops.
“That should be a tough tournament,” said England. “We see the No. 1 team in B.C. first and Western (Canada Redmen of Calgary) is on our side of the draw, too. It should be good competition no matter wherever we end up in the draw.”
