One down and seven to go for the St. Albert Skyhawks.
The No. 1 4A high school women’s basketball team in Alberta can repeat as metro Edmonton division one champions with three playoff wins next week before hopefully running the table with authority in four games at provincials.
“It’s right there for us,” said Annacy Palmer, a Grade 10 offensive threat for the 23-5 Skyhawks. “We just have to know no game is going to be easy. Every team will be coming at us just as hard and we have to do what we do and that’s play together and play really well.”
The Skyhawks soar into the post-season as the 10-0 division one leaders after overpowering the Paul Kane Blues 69-33 Wednesday at the SkyDome for their 15th consecutive victory since losing to the Jasper Place Rebels 66-52 Dec. 15 in the third-place game at the 37th annual REB Invitational.
“This was a really important game for us. There was a lot of preparation coming into the game as well as the mentality in knowing this game could determine first, second or third so it was a really important game for us especially the points for and against,” Palmer said.
With the win, the Skyhawks avoided last year’s three-way tiebreaker with Paul Kane and the Rebels when the three teams finished 10-1. The Skyhawks were declared the top playoff seed at plus-five, the Rebels were slotted second at plus-four and Paul Kane was third at minus-nine.
The Rebels (9-1), No. 6 in 4A, and Paul Kane (8-2) are below the Skyhawks in this year’s playoff pecking order when the quarter-finals tip off Monday.
In the round of eight, the Skyhawks host the Spruce Grove Panthers (3-7) at 5:30 p.m. and Paul Kane welcomes the Leduc Tigers (5-5) and the start time is 5 p.m.
The semifinals are Wednesday and the final is next Saturday at 5 p.m. at Ross Sheppard. The result will determine the first and second Edmonton zone reps at the 16-team 4A provincials, March 14 to 16 at Jasper Place.
A zone playoff will declare the third rep and possibly another team.
At last year’s provincials, the Skyhawks captured bronze and Paul Kane was the consolation champion for fifth place in the tournament.
The Skyhawks and Paul Kane were seeded second and eighth, respectively, at provincials in Medicine Hat.
Paul Kane, a 4A honourable mention after it was listed eighth in first Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association rankings, enters the playoffs at 17-8 overall after the second loss in three rivalry games against the Skyhawks this season.
“Everything is in the past now. We’re just going to look forward and focus on the next games and keep up our energy, keep up our talk and keep getting better as we go on,” said Grade 11 forward Raeesa Cherniwchan, one of six returnees on the Paul Kane roster. “We’ve shown big improvement from the beginning to now and we’re looking forward to what’s ahead for us.”
Losing by 33 points to the Skyhawks after the 84-40 shocker in the Jan. 12 final at the Paul Kane Invitational was somewhat of a moral victory.
“Of course it would be nice to beat them, obviously. They’re a great team but we played really well against them,” said Cherniwchan of the first setback for Paul Kane after five wins in a row. “We really put in a lot of effort and had a good game.”
Paul Kane was within striking range at halftime down by 12 after the previous Battle of St. Albert was a 46-17 rout at halftime.
“We knew what we were getting into, not that we didn’t before,” Cherniwchan said. “We’ve got more experience (since the loss). Our energy was way better and our defence was way better, too.”
Palmer’s three-pointer on the first shot attempt of the game a few seconds after the opening tipoff set the tone for victory as the Skyhawks kept scoring before Paul Kane called a time out down 12-1 and the game only 2:15 minutes old.
After the first quarter ended 18-6, a pair of three-pointers by Ella Stanley was the offensive spark Paul Kane needed to remain in contention at halftime trailing 32-20.
“We came out really well. We started with the lead and then the second quarter there wasn’t a lot of scoring and not a lot was happening,” said Palmer, who dropped three of her five three-pointers on Paul Kane before the break.
The Skyhawks wrapped it up in the third quarter by outscoring Paul Kane 18-8.
“We were close at halftime and after that I guess that’s the way the ball bounces,” Cherniwchan said. “Our energy came in waves and when you have a few lapses, you fall apart, but we still kept it together as a team.
“Our defence did really well though but that is a good scoring team.”
It was 39-20 when Stanley drained a three-pointer with 2:47 gone in the second half.
A three-point play by Mimi Sigue to make it 44-27 triggered a 9-1 run before quarter time.
“After the half we really came out strong with a lot of energy and we held that lead. We were working together really well, passed the ball and defended them really well and that’s won the game for us,” said Palmer.
Last year’s U15 provincial team player and one of six newcomers on the Skyhawks finished with 23 points after netting 12 in the first half.
“The energy was flowing and I just felt good about it. I was confident and I saw the next shot going in,” said the 15-year-old guard/forward who attended Avalon Junior High School in Edmonton last season.
Sigue’s first game back from a recent lower-body injury was impressive as the Grade 11 post pounded the ball inside for 13 points.
The energetic Morgan Harris chipped in with nine points and the steady Kamryn DeKlerk added eight.
The most surprising stat was that Teá DeMong, a 2018 Metro Athletics all-star and second team All-Canadian at last year’s U17 nationals, scored only two points with a basket to start the second quarter after lighting up the home team at the Paul Kane Invitation final with six three-pointers as the tournament MVP.
The Skyhawks approached Wednesday’s showdown with trepidation after blowing out Paul Kane last month.
“We reflected on that game and we know that it wasn’t one of their best games so we knew that we couldn’t come into this knowing that it would easy because it wasn’t. We won by quite a bit but we had to fight for this game,” said Palmer, who was unavailable for the 79-75 double overtime loss to Paul Kane in the Dec. 14 semifinal at the REB Invitational – along with DeMong and Harris – because of commitments with the women’s national age-group assessment camps in Toronto that same weekend.
Paul Kane was led by Stanley’s 13 points while Cherniwchan netted seven as Paul Kane struggled to generate any scoring runs of significance.
“Our energy was a little low at the start and we didn’t get rolling and our offence was just a little slow,” said Cherniwchan, 16, a dependable hoopster who provided quality minutes at both ends of the floor. “We just didn’t get many scoring opportunities.”
