The St. Albert Skyhawks are basking in the glow of being 3A provincial gold medallists.
The last game in a season to remember for the metro Edmonton premier champions was Saturday's 56-48 conquest of the Magrath Pandas in the Alberta Schools' Athletic Association final at Medicine Hat.
"It was extremely emotional. That was our last game playing together as a team and to pull out a big win like that and make history was even a better way to end the perfect season," co-captain Hilary Annich told the Gazette Sunday morning as the tired but triumphant Skyhawks bused back to St. Albert.
The 34th win in 39 games was the thrill of a lifetime for one of the most decorated basketball teams in St. Albert history.
"I believe we're the first St. Albert team of any size or school to win a provincial title in girls' basketball and that's outstanding," said John Dedrick, the proud head coach of the only St. Albert team to capture the premier women's crown.
The short but skilled Skyhawks were destined for greatness with eight veterans, led by third-year players Courtney Gogowich, Andrea Heavener and Annich from the 2008 provincial bronze medallists. The roster of six Grade 12s, two Grade 11s and three Grade 10s made history by going 14-0 as the only 3A team in premier this year. Their five losses were against 4A competition in tournaments, including a pair of defeats to the 4A provincial silver medallists from Spruce Grove.
"I thought we could compete at the 3A level right from the start, however the X factor or the wildcard unexpected thing was the premier championship. That to me almost seems a lot more of an accomplishment than anything else just because we competed against top 4A schools," Dedrick said. "I don't know at what point I kind of realized that we had a chance. It was a momentum builder and slowly but surely we knew if we played well and shot the ball well enough we would certainly be right there.
"But I guess it was really when the girls pulled together last month [after finishing third in the J. Percy Page tournament]. We had a number of people injured at various times and we were able to get some wins with key players being injured. I thought, 'OK, this is mentally and physically preparing us for provincials.'"
After losing two in a row in disappointing fashion as the fourth seed at the 2009 provincials, the Skyhawks vowed they would settle for nothing less than gold.
"We couldn't have another showing like that at provincials. It was like, 'We need to win, let's win this year,' and we did," Heavener said. "I wouldn't say the final was our best game that we had but it was definitely the most important and we came through when it mattered the most."
The post-game celebration after the greatest victory by a varsity women's basketball team at St. Albert Catholic High School overwhelmed the awestruck Skyhawks.
"It was kind of surreal. I couldn't comprehend it at the time. It was like, 'Did we really win provincials?' said Heavener.
Championship jitters
The Grade 12 forward wired 10 of her 14 points in the first half, including a pair of three-balls and a field goal for the opening eight points in the final by the nervous-looking Skyhawks.
"Magrath was the giant killer already, having defeated Springbank [76-62] and McCoy [51-37], the number two and three seeds, so from a pressure situation there was certainly none on them coming into the final. We obviously had a little more pressure on us as the number one seed and it showed. We threw the ball away on the first three or four possessions and it was simply because of nerves," Dedrick said.
The Skyhawks also needed time to adjust to the antics of the pro-Magrath crowd in the packed gym.
"It was another thing for us to deal with but we pulled through," Annich said. "We had a huge crowd too at the premier championship [74-72 thriller over the O'Leary Spartans at O'Leary High School] so that kind of prepared us for it, but the fans were on our side in that game. There were a lot of fans cheering for Magrath in the final."
Trailing by three, the Skyhawks settled down in the second quarter and outscored the seventh-seeded Pandas by a whopping 16-2 margin to lead 29-18 at halftime.
"They were kind of shocked and awed in that quarter because they didn't know what hit them," Heavener said.
The Pandas never recovered from the beating they took.
"It was a little demoralizing for them because they played very well in the first quarter," Dedrick said.
Shot the lights out
Annich, rookie Kendall Lydon and Heavener produced all the team's points in the momentum-shifting period. Annich and Lydon both sank a pair of threes against the reeling Pandas. They finished the final with three each, as the Skyhawks drained 10 three-balls to the Pandas' one, which came in the first quarter.
"We had a lot of threes that helped us. Our shooting definitely got us to where we are," said Annich, the highest-scoring Skyhawk with 17 points.
The ability to score from long range pushed the Skyhawks over the top
"We've lived and died by the three-point shooting most of the year," Dedrick said. "Our strength is trying to spread people out and try and shoot the ball. I thought they might go to a man-to-man if we shot the ball well enough, which again would've been to our advantage, but they still stayed in a zone and it just happened that we shot well enough to win."
Both teams racked up 15 points apiece in the third quarter as the Skyhawks maintained their 11-point advantage. Almost half of Magrath's points came from the free throw line. The Skyhawks countered with pivotal threes by Lydon and rookie Zoe Downing. A couple of Heavener buckets at the end of the quarter kept the Skyhawks flying high.
"Every time McGrath scored we responded," Dedrick said.
A big three by Gogowich, her only points in the final, early in the last frame gave the Skyhawks a big boost.
"It was one of the highlights of the game. In practice Courtney will shoot threes and we all joke about it and then when she made it in the game our draws dropped. We were so happy," Heavener said.
Intense finish
As the final wound down the Skyhawks hung tough as the desperate Pandas closed to within six points of the leaders.
"They played hard and we had to play intense defence just to get by," Annich said. "I don't think they were used to our intensity and level of speed. We hustled like crazy and we kept our pace and they couldn't keep up at the end."
Late in the game, points by Annich (three-point play) and foul shots by Lydon (12th point of the game) and Downing sealed the deal.
"Once time became an issue we were able to hit a few free throws," Dedrick said. "We did not shoot free throws well at all [four-for-15], which is uncharacteristic of our team. The spread would have been even more if we had actually shot our normal percentage from the free throw line."
Dedrick didn't know it was a done deal until a split-second before the buzzer blew.
"When we were up six and I think there was under a minute left we shot the ball and got an offensive rebound and we kicked the ball back out. We knew at some point they were going to have to foul us and they did. We eventually go up by eight and at that point I'm thinking, 'OK now it's just a matter of playing keep-away,'" he said. "I was still worried. I knew they weren't a great three-point shooting team but I didn't want to give them any easy looks. The girls ended up playing good enough defence and distributed the ball well enough at the end to make sure we could run the clock out."
Tears of joy spilled onto the court as the Skyhawks danced in delight.
"Our team just jumped on each other. We couldn't believe we had won provincials. It was very emotional," Heavener said.
The wave of jubilation also hit the coaches hard.
"Paige Gaudreau, my assistant coach, and I kind of looked at each other and went, 'Holy smokes! We did it!' Both of us were a little bit teary but we tried to stay composed and let the girls bask in the glory of what they accomplished but it was emotional for sure," Dedrick said.
Team to beat
As the team to beat in the 12-team draw, the Skyhawks humbled the ninth-seeded Eagle Butte Talons from Dunmore 72-39 as Lydon tacked up 14 points. Annich and Grade 11 playmaker Shelby Hucul added 13 apiece. Downing posted eight and Grade 12 post Jenn Larison had seven.
In the semifinal Heavener fired 28 points as the Skyhawks knocked off the fourth-seeded Camrose Trojans 75-56. Annich chipped in with 18 and Hucul scored all 10 of her points in the first half.
"The first game we came out kind of slow. We hadn't played for about a week and had only practiced," Heavener said. "We played Camrose in a tournament [62-55 at Wetaskiwin in late February] so we knew we had to come out strong and we played really well."
The sixth straight trip to provincials for the Skyhawks, and their fourth in a row as Edmonton zone champions was the culmination of a long journey with Dedrick at the helm.
"This started back the year we decided to take a .500 city conference team and go play in the premier conference. We said, 'OK, were going to get our butts kicked in premier but this is going to better prepare us for provincials and better prepare those players who want to move on to the next level.' We had players that were willing to take a kicking sometimes initially and then slowly the program got stronger by playing stronger teams," Dedrick said. "To be honest, this says a lot for girls' basketball in St. Albert. It goes back to the Slam program and to Jesse Lipscombe coming on board two or three years ago and having that fitness class all the girls take. Pieces have been added along the way, as well as obviously the players buying into what we do."
