The St. Albert Skyhawks streak into today’s premier women’s semifinal undefeated in metro Edmonton high school basketball and 26-5 overall after winning the Wetaskiwin tournament last weekend.
Tip off is 6:15 p.m. against the third-place Archbishop Jordan Scots (7-6) at the SkyDome. The winner advances to Saturday’s final at 5 p.m. at O’Leary High School.
At the 3A-calibre tournament in Wetaskiwin, the Skyhawks beat Holy Trinity Academy of Okotoks 75-49, Camrose 62-55 and the host Sabres 66-38 in the final. The Skyhawks are ranked number-one in 3A. Camrose is listed second and the Sabres are sixth.
“It was a very tough tournament where we did not shoot the ball really well but found ways to win. We seemed to hit shots when we really need them the most,” said head coach John Dedrick. “We were down for most of the Camrose game until the fourth quarter when we hit a couple of jumpers.”
It was the third tournament triumph of the season, in addition to one third-place finish and two fourth-place results for the Skyhawks.
Their last premier game before the playoffs was last Wednesday’s 83-44 thumping of the Paul Kane Blues. The score at halftime was 40-28.
Zoe Downing led all scorers with 20 points. Two of her four three-pointers were scored back-to-back to start the third quarter. Hilary Annich added 18 points, including three three-balls. She controlled the tempo and set up her teammates for a ton of open shots. Kendall Lydon added 13 points. Andrea Heavener had eight and Tricia McFarlane chipped in with seven.
The win marked the first 12-0 undefeated season in premier for a varsity basketball team at St. Albert Catholic High School. The Blues (2-10) failed to make the playoffs.
The St. Albert Curling Club mixed playoffs are ready to rock this week. The final in the double-knockout draw goes Thursday at 8:45 p.m. and if needed, Friday at 6:30 p.m.
The Award Windows rink of skip Doug McLennan, third Alison Howes, second Colin Jenkyns and lead Ashley Ferguson are gunning for their fourth-straight club title. They went undefeated in the Thursday night league.
Game four in the best-of-five semifinal between the St. Albert Flyers and Spruce Grove PAC Saints in the Alberta Minor Midget Hockey League goes tonight at 7:45 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
Game three in the north conference playoff series was played Tuesday in St. Albert but the score was unavailable at press time.
After losing game one 4-0 in Spruce Grove the Flyers rebounded on the road with a 3-2 decision Saturday on goals by Josh Jewell in period two and Liam McNamara and Carson Samoridny in the third to complete the comeback. Jacob Bilodeau stopped 37 shots for the Flyers. They tested Courtney Kostiuk 21 times in the Spruce Grove net.
In the regular season the Saints (25-6-3) finished second and the Flyers (22-8-4) were third. The Flyers beat the Saints twice in three games.
