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Skyhawks go for gold

The number-one ranked 3A women's basketball team in Alberta is on a mission. "We've proved a lot of people wrong so far this year and we're going to do that again at provincials," co-captain Hilary Annich said after the St.

The number-one ranked 3A women's basketball team in Alberta is on a mission.

"We've proved a lot of people wrong so far this year and we're going to do that again at provincials," co-captain Hilary Annich said after the St. Albert Skyhawks dismantled the Leduc Tigers 85-51 in the Edmonton zone final Thursday at the SkyDome.

The Skyhawks soar into the hoopfest championship next week in Medicine Hat as the team to beat with a brilliant 31-5 record.

"Are we afraid of anybody when we go down there? Absolutely not. We know we can play with anybody," said John Dedrick, head coach of the metro Edmonton premier conference champions. "We've been in blowout games, nail-bitters, come-from-behind games — we've played in every scenario type of game there is and had lots of success in a lot of them."

The Brooks Buffalos, ranked second provincially, are expected to challenge the Skyhawks for the provincial title. Brooks is the only team Dedrick hasn't scouted. The Skyhawks have defeated most of the teams at provincials in tournament action.

"Even those teams we've beat, on a given day they can beat us," he said. "We average 80 points a game but that's because we shoot the ball well. We have to keep doing that for us to be fairly successful and I'm looking forward to the players coming through in the clutch for us."

As the top seed in the 12-team draw, the Skyhawks have a bye Thursday and Friday's tilt will determine their medal fortunes.

"After five-through-12 play it becomes an Oregon format. If we win our first game then we're automatically on the championship side. The team we're playing will already have a game under their belts so we'll probably have a little bit of nerves going in that game," Dedrick said. "There are pros and cons of playing and not playing [Thursday], but since we're nursing some injuries, the more days we have to recover the better, so that part is good for us."

The latest casualty was Grade 11 forward Stephanie Gartner with a twisted ankle in Wednesday's 79-35 rout of the Louis St. Laurent Barons in the zone semifinal. Several players have suffered injuries, including Annich, a Grade 12 point guard with a wobbly ankle and Grade 12 post Courtney Gogowich with a cranky shoulder and tender ribs.

"Hilary hasn't been healthy for two weeks and we've been able to win without her at 100 per cent," Dedrick said. "Courtney tweaked her shoulder again today but I can't keep her out of the line-up. She would beat the crap out of me if I tried to.

"The mental toughness that this team has shown to win games with other people playing well or stepping up to play is huge. That has helped us and will come back to help us again at provincials."

Provincial contenders

The highest order of finish by the Skyhawks at provincials under Dedrick's direction was bronze two years ago as the tournament's second seed. They finished 25-9 overall.

"They're both good teams but different," Dedrick said of the 2008 and 2010 Optimist Showdown in St. Albert tournament winners. "This team full-court defends better. It also has a little bit more team speed from one through 11. The other team brought a lot more size with Krista Zubick and Christina Kracher.

"This team shoots the ball far better than any team I've coached, guys or girls. We can put a line-up on the floor that can shoot the three-ball from all five spots if we wanted to and it's tough to shut down five shooters.

"Our biggest thing is we've got good leadership. We've got kids that know how hard they have to work to be successful and every kid bought into that this year."

At the 2009 provincials as the fourth seed, the Skyhawks went down in flames in losses of 47-44 to the Wetaskiwin Sabres (ranked third this year) and 53-47 to the Holy Rosary Raiders (ranked 10th this year).

"After last year we have to do better," said Annich, who led all scorers with 23 points in Thursday's provincial qualifier.

In a zone

The fourth straight zone championship for the Skyhawks extended their consecutive provincial appearances to six. The first two trips to provincials were as the zone finalists but this year only the winner advanced with no wild card berths available.

"It's pretty nerve-wracking knowing that we're ranked number one and we could possibly not got to provincials," said Zoe Downing.

The starting Grade 10 guard drained a pair of threes in the second quarter as the Skyhawks out-scored Leduc 28-11 in the 10-minute period to take a commanding 42-19 halftime lead. After three quarters the score was a lopsided 67-39.

In the first quarter the Skyhawks couldn't hit sand falling off a camel until Annich wired the first of her four three-balls to make it 10-8 after she missed three shots in a row.

"The first quarter [14-8] wasn't an indicator of how well we can shoot. We had lots of open looks and didn't make them but as soon as we started to hit them we were able to blow the game wide open," Dedrick said.

After shaking off those early jitters the Skyhawks would go on to crush Leduc.

"We were supposed to go to provincials, right? Because of that I think we were nervous at the beginning but we got through that and played really well," said Annich, 17, who logged more minutes against Leduc than the zone quarter-final and semifinal combined.

Annich joins Gogowich and co-captain Andrea Heavener as third-year Skyhawks on the 11-player roster. Rounding out the Grade 12s who played their last game as Skyhawks at St. Albert Catholic High School were forwards Tricia McFarlane, Lisa Rombough and post Jenn Larison.

"It was senior day and the Grade 10s and 11s brought the seniors gifts so we were aware that it was our last game in our school gym for sure," Annich said. "I thought we would all be in tears after it was over but it's still pretty emotional."

Kendall Lydon, the game star in the Skyhawks' historic 74-72 premier championship triumph last Saturday with a pair of clutch game winning free throws with 0.1 on the clock, tacked up 20 points against Leduc. The Grade 10 standout also fired three three-balls.

Heavener scored eight of her 19 points in the second quarter against Leduc, the first-place team in the metro league's city conference at 14-0 that was upset by the eighth-place Christ The King Chargers in the quarter-finals.

In the zone playoff against the Barons, a 10-4 fifth-place city team, Heavener pumped in 23 points. Lydon tossed in three three-balls and 18 points. Shelby Hucul added 16 and Downing had 10. The Barons were out-classed 23-4 in the first quarter and trailed 49-8 at halftime.

The zone playoff opener was Monday's 100-40 rout of the Holy Trinity Trojans, a ninth-place 7-7 city team. Lydon racked up 24 points, Downing collected 20 and Heavener added 16.

"After winning premier we have been a little bit tired just because it was such a huge ordeal, but for the most part we've been continuing to go as hard as we can," Downing said.

The only 3A team in premier was perfect at 14-0 in league play. The Skyhawks were also one of the very few 3A schools to capture the premier crown. They also established themselves as the first St. Albert varsity women's team to win premier honours in the metro league, established in 1988/89.

"We're pretty giddy about it. It's a big deal. We're still pretty excited," said Downing, 16.

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