The Richard S. Fowler Falcons finished a banner season as repeat winners in the St. Albert Physical Education Council junior high basketball league.
The 19th victory without a loss this season was 60-43 over the Vincent J. Maloney Marauders in the Tier I city final Thursday at the SkyDome.
“Last year it felt really awesome to bring a banner home and it’s even better this year because we’re the defending champions,” said Elizabeth Salcedo, a Grade 8 guard, after pumping in 19 points in the big game. “We’re making our school proud.”
Visit www.stalbertgazette.com to view the team’s championship banner picture.
Fowler also defeated VJM 47-39 in last year’s final to finish 19-2 overall as the top SAPEC female team for the first time since 2008.
“We worked really hard both years and the difference was we had more height last year,” said Salcedo, one of nine returnees on the 12-player roster. “I’m so proud of us and how far we’ve come.”
This year was extra special for Fowler while going undefeated.
“It means so much more,” said Jules Froment, a Grade 9 guard who led all scorers with 21 points. “It’s great to play on a great team.
“Our effort and our communication have really improved. We pushed the ball a lot more and we’re really fast up and down the court. We also have great shooters too.”
VJM lost six games overall and they were all against Fowler.
“It’s always VJM and Fowler and it’s a competition. We love it and we hate it at the same time,” said VJM post Taylor Pukanich.
Incentive was high for Fowler to complete a winning season as the SAPEC champions.
“There was a bit of pressure just knowing that we were undefeated and we wanted to keep it that way,” said Salcedo, 14. “You don’t want to walk into something and find that you choked afterwards.”
Fowler struggled out of the gate down 15-4 and the opening quarter ended with VJM on top 16-9.
A flurry of three pointers in the second quarter – one by Froment and a pair by Salcedo – pushed Fowler in front 28-26 at the break.
A five-point run to begin the second half put VJM in the rear-view mirror and at quarter time Fowler was in front 37-32 with one nine-minute period remaining.
Froment’s three-pointer with under six minutes to play made it 45-36 while kick-starting a 16-point scoring spree highlighted by the third three-ball of the night by Salcedo and Froment before VJM replied with its third basket of the quarter and Fowler in control at 58-38 with about three minutes to go.
“We were neck and neck pretty much throughout the whole game, we just slipped for a couple of minutes during the fourth quarter and that’s what overall got us in the end,” said Pukanich, 14, who produced seven points while logging tough minutes on defence.
Aneilia Ayotte’s team-high 15 points included the last nine of the match for VJM and Ella Whiting added 13 as the Marauders finished 7-2 league play.
“Everyone played 100 per cent. It was a great game,” said Pukanich, one of six Grade 9 players on the roster. “We all worked together and we all believed in each other.”
Aislinn Libich’s 10 points for Fowler included a layup after VJM turned over the ball on offence and the basket put the score at 47-36 with 5:25 to play.
Abbey Kornak also chipped in with seven points.
“Our team did great. We pushed the ball. Great passes. Great defence. Overall we did fantastic,” said Froment, 14, who is among five Falcons moving up into the high school ranks next season.
FREE THROWS: The final was about 40 minutes late starting because there were no referees. After several frantic phone calls by SAPEC organizers and the Fowler and VJM head coaches, it was decided that John Dedrick, head coach of the metro Edmonton division one senior women’s champion St. Albert Skyhawks, and Andrew Salcedo, a former standout on the men’s team at St. Albert High and a Fowler alumnus, would fill in as officials. The arrival of Cam Fischer, an accredited referee and Elmer S. Gish School teacher who coached high school basketball back in the day, put Salcedo back in the stands to watch his sister, Elizabeth, play for Fowler.
Fischer did a great job as an emergency replacement in the championship doubleheader and Dedrick, who had both knees surgically repaired last season, gave way to a younger referee for the boys’ final.
Sources said miscommunication was the reason for the no-shows by the referees.
