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Blues win two, lose two at provincials

Paul Kane Blues split four games against teams seeded ahead of the women's basketball team at the 4A provincial high school championship

Jasper Place – To play on the last day of provincials was victory in itself for the Paul Kane Blues.

The 4A high school basketball tournament was seconds away from ending sooner than expected for Paul Kane when Kayleena Garda willed the ball through the hoop for the game-winning points in Friday’s 53-52 decision against the Raymond Comets.

“It was going to be over if we lost and we talked about that beforehand. We were really determined to win because our team has such good chemistry and we weren’t ready to finish the season just yet,” said Garda of extending the season for Paul Kane with her timely basket. “We love the sport so much and this win means that we get to play even more what we love. Everyone is super excited.”

The come-from-behind result after trailing 44-37 early in the last quarter lifted the Blues into Saturday’s match against the Centennial Coyotes of Calgary for placement in the championship draw of the 16-team competition.

“I think that’s where the resilience came from with us in knowing that it’s do or die. We did not want to end our season that way so we focused on that and put everything we had into that last quarter,” said Kaitlyn Kluttig, who hit a key three-pointer to put Paul Kane ahead 45-44 with 7:14 to play against Raymond.

The season finale was Saturday’s 80-59 loss to Centennial as Paul Kane was outscored 21-11 in the final 10 minutes.

Centennial also popped in five of its eight three-pointers in the second half after leading 40-32 at the break.

“We played very well in this game. The other team worked hard as well, it just came down to them scoring more than us,” Kluttig said.

Paul Kane was seeded 10th at provincials, the same spot for the team in the third Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association ranking period of the season after receiving an honourable mention in the second rankings and was listed eighth in the first rankings.

“This season has been amazing for all of us. We obviously improved so much. We were not ranked where we are now,” said Kluttig of Paul Kane playing Centennial in what was the fifth/sixth game for teams in the championship bracket. “It’s just a big accomplishment for all of us. No one expected us to get this high in the province so I’m proud of everyone.”

Paul Kane tipped off provincials in its home gym in Thursday’s overtime 55-50 nail-bitter against the No. 7 Magrath Pandas, who were fourth in the last rankings before provincials.

Raeesa Cherniwchan tied it at 20 at the end of the first half and after three quarters it was 43-31 Paul Kane.

With only a few ticks on the clock, Jules Froment deposited the first of two free throws to make it 43-41 and Magrath gobbled up the rebound on the second attempt, went down the floor and scored the game-tying bucket on a layup with one second to go.

“We thought we had it sealed but then they got the layup so we were like there was more time on the clock for us to redeem ourselves,” Garda said.

Magrath started off the five-minute extra period with a basket and Paul Kane responded with a three-pointer by Ella Stanley, a layup by Cherniwchan and Gaulden’s three-pointer to make it 51-45 with under two minutes to go.

It was 51-50 coming out of a timeout with 1:16 left in OT, when Garda scored to create a three-point spread and Stanley followed up defensively with a big block on Magrath’s next possession and the Blues never looked back.

“We were definitely the underdogs going into that one, well everyone saw us as the underdogs, so that built us up to go as hard as we can and we did. We didn’t let it get to us. The Paul Kane crowd especially helped a lot. It was just a good dynamic from everyone, including the team,” Kluttig said.

The win came at a price, however, as Cherniwchan, a physical Grade 11 forward with a scorer’s touch, suffered an ankle injury and was unavailable for the rest of provincials.

In Thursday’s quarter-final against the No. 2 Bishop Carroll Cardinals of Calgary and the eventual silver medallists, Paul Kane was unable to stop Grade 11 star Yvonne Ejim in the 68-43 loss.

“Yvonne Ejim is a beast,” said Kluttig, who played on the U17 provincial team at the 2018 nationals with Ejim and Stanley.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game because Yvonne is just an amazing player,” Garda added. “We had won against Magrath earlier and we were kind of still on a high from that and against Bishop Carroll we did what we could because they have such a good team.”

The next game against No. 6 Raymond, ranked seventh before provincials, started off with Paul Kane leading 17-12 after the opening period and the gap grew to 24-13 before the Comets roared back to go up 27-25.

The half ended with Stanley’s three-pointer and a free throw by Raymond to knot the count at 28.

Stanley scored six of the team’s nine points in the third quarter as Paul Kane trailed 42-37 entering the last period.

“It was a really tough time because we knew Raymond had some really good players,” said Garda.

The six-foot-four Grade 11 post had the outcome in her hands after Raymond scored the go-ahead 52-51 basket with 19.4 seconds to play. On the inbound play after the time out by Paul Kane, the Blues passed the ball around before Garda locked in on the basket and let loose with an arching shot that hit the top of the rim, bounced up high before dropping through.

“It was really nerve-wracking because it bobbled a little bit and I wasn’t sure it was going to go in but when it went in I was really happy,” said Garda, who also knocked in a bank shot for the 51-48 advantage with 2:55 left. “At the time I didn’t really think about the score (52-51 Raymond), I wanted to get it and shot it and when it went in, everyone lost their mind. It was a really good feeling.”

Garda, 16, finished with eight points while Stanley led the team with 17 and a whole bunch of blocked shots and Kluttig added 11.

In the loss to Centennial, last year’s provincial champion and the tournament’s fifth seed after it was ranked third before provincials, Paul Kane was led by Gaulden’s 13 points, Stanley’s three three-pointers and eight points apiece for Kluttig and Gracie Reschke.

The outcome left Paul Kane with an overall record of 20-11.

After the final buzzer, tears from the graduating players on the Paul Kane roster flooded the Jasper Place gym.

“I’ve been playing with Ella Stanley for eight years and I've had coach Rick (Stanley) coach me forever and now knowing it’s done today, it’s very emotional after all of that,” said Kluttig, 17, a Grade 12 guard and one of six returnees from the 2018 provincial consolation championship team. “Knowing that it was my last high school game got me to play as hard as I can and I tried to put everything I had on the floor for my team.”

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