Jasper Place High School – The spotlight shines bright on the St. Albert Skyhawks today as the defending 4A provincial champions.
A victory by the 26-1 Skyhawks against the 22-3 Jasper Place Rebels would solidify their status as the team to fear in high school women’s basketball.
“This is the game we’ve been kind of waiting for our whole season,” said Grade 11 guard Annacy Palmer after the Skyhawks blasted the Medicine Hat Kwahommies 93-35 Saturday at the No Frills tournament hosted by the Rebels.
“It’s a very important game for us. JP is ranked number three so we want to make sure we’re still staying in the number one spot heading into provincials so we get the easiest path to the final,” Palmer said. “It’s going to be a very personal game. We both know each other really well so we have to go in mentally prepared. We can’t let anything get to our heads and playing in this (Jasper Place) gym with their fans we need to be fighting back and be really aggressive.”
The first-place showdown in the metro Edmonton division one standing tips off at 5:30 p.m. with the 9-0 Skyhawks averaging a hefty 97 points per win and only 35 points against in league play compared to 79 points for and 45 points against for the 8-0 Rebels.
The last two division one finals have been victories by the Skyhawks against the Rebels by margins of 20 points in 2019 at Ross Sheppard High School and 10 points in 2018 at Jasper Place.
“We’re really excited. They’re really solid competition. We know a lot of them so it will be awesome to continue that rivalry over three years,” said Dani Nadeau, a third-year Rebel. “We’re also pretty excited to have them here at home too.”
Both teams have several players with Team Alberta experience who have hooped it up together at age-group nationals. Last year’s Alberta lineup as U17 silver medallists featured Nadeau, Haley Fedick and Jenna Rinsky of the Rebels and Palmer, Teá DeMong, Morgan Harris, Kamryn DeKlerk and Mimi Sigue of the Skyhawks.
“We’ve all played with them on provincial teams so we kind of know what they do. It’s just a matter of getting the right pieces together at the right time and putting our pieces together to get past them for more offence,” said Nadeau, a Team Alberta player since Grade 9.
There are no surprises with the Rebels, according to Palmer.
“We’re always watching them. We know them. We’ve played with them before and we’re all kind of friends, but once we get on the court it’s just a battle,” said one of the eight returnees from the 30-5 championship Skyhawks that turfed the Rebels 73-41 in the provincial semifinal at Jasper Place.
The preview of what is expected to be the upcoming division one final is also the ninth game left in the season for the Skyhawks to three-peat at cities and repeat at provincials.
The last league game is the Battle of St. Albert as the Paul Kane Blues (5-3) welcome the Skyhawks at 5 p.m. Monday, followed by three playoff dates with the March 7 final at Shep and four games at provincials hosted by the south zone March 19 to 21.
“We’re going to make the most of it,” Palmer said. “We know that every team is giving their all and they’re not going to give it easy to us and we can’t give it easy to anyone that we’re playing because we want every game to help us get to the city final and the provincial final.”
The last time the Rebels outscored the Skyhawks was 66-52 in the third-place game Dec. 15 at the 2018 REB Invitational at Jasper Place.
The Rebels ended last season with a 24-9 record as the fourth-place finishers at provincials with no Grade 12s, eight Grade 11s and four Grade 10s.
The current roster consists of 12 returnees, including six-foot-two Fedick, who was sidelined last season with a lower-body injury, and two Grade 10s.
“We’re really mature. There are a lot of Grade 12s on the team and we’ve played with each other for a really long time so we know each other’s strengths,” Nadeau said. “We just have to make sure we’re getting the most out of our practices and treating our bodies well and keeping our energy high for the end of the season.”
At the No Frills tournament, six teams had three games scheduled and there was no final, the Rebels posted wins of 81-63 against Medicine Hat, 69-59 against the Centennial Coyotes of Calgary and 91-36 against the Lindsay Thurber Raiders of Red Deer.
Recent tournament results for the Rebels included losing the Western Canada Redhawks' final earliet this month in Calgary by one point to Western, listed second in the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association rankings after slotted No. 1 in the first ranking period.
The Rebels also dropped a two-point decsion to Western in the 2019 REB final, finished 3-1 at the Daytona Beach Sunrise Classic in December at Florida and won the season-opening tournament at Saskatoon.
“Honestly, I feel we have a really well rounded group and we’ve worked really hard this season on doing good on defence, offence and boards so it’s more like an all-around package than excelling at one thing,” said Nadeau, 17, a Grade 12 guard.
The Skyhawks are winners of 20 consecutive tournament and league games after the 76-68 loss to Western in the Dec. 13 semifinal of the REB Invitational.
The Skyhawks are also 17-1 in six tournaments after convincing results at the No Frills of 95-57 against Centennial, ranked 10th in 4A, 114-35 against Lindsay Thurber and the 58-point drubbing of Medicine Hat.
In league play, the Skyhawks surpassed 90 points sixth times and four scores were in triple digits.
“We’ve had some tough games despite the scores, but it’s been a great season for sure,” Palmer said. “We did want to be undefeated this season, that was our goal, so we just have to make sure that we win the most games that we can going into the end of the season.”
Among the most memorable performances by the Skyhawks was the 77-point blowout of Paul Kane in the Nov. 30 final of the Mike Dea Classic at St. Francis Xavier High School, 79-63 against the Semiahmoo Totems of Surrey, the 2019 B.C. AAA champions, on Jan. 4 in the last game at the Centennial Coyote Classic, 91-66 against Western in the St. Mary’s Saints Senior Classic semifinal Jan. 31 at Calgary and 86-39 against the Philles Girls of Marburg, Germany in the Feb. 8 final of Father Michael Troy Basketball Classic at St. Joseph High School.
“The Germany game was great for us. We all played really well. It was a great experience playing an international team and everyone in the gym was cheering against us so that was a really fun game for us. The Western rematch was another great game for us too as a team after we lost to them before,” said Palmer, 17, the MVP of the St. Mary’s tournament who played her Grade 9 basketball at Avalon Junior High School in Edmonton.
