Jasper Place High School – The St. Albert Skyhawks continued their path of destruction toward another championship season in Wednesday’s wrecking-ball performance against a respected rival.
The 27th win in 28 games for the rampaging Skyhawks was 65-40 against the Jasper Place Rebels in the first-place showdown in metro Edmonton division one women’s basketball.
Last year’s 4A provincial gold medallists and division one playoff titleists are the highest-ranked 4A team in Alberta and the Rebels, a provincial threat at 22-4, are ranked third in 4A.
"This really confirms our ranking as number one,” said Mimi Sigue, a commanding post presence for the winners of 21 consecutive league and tournament games.
“Every win brings us closer to repeating in what we did last year,” Sigue said. “It’s all about staying composed, staying focused and eye on the goal, which is winning a provincial champ.”
The Rebels were 8-0 in division one before hosting the Skyhawks, now 10-0 in league play with one game left before the March 2 quarter-finals.
“It’s a pretty big win because we’re staying number one in the rankings whereas if we would’ve lost it would’ve messed it up,” said offensive gem Teá DeMong of the Skyhawks’ lofty status as the team to beat. “We’re not going to let it go. We’re going to work hard for it.”
The fourth consecutive conquest of the Rebels was also the seventh in eight games dating back to February of 2018. The results include the 68-58 division one final at Jasper Place and 58-56 provincial bronze-medal match at Medicine Hat in 2018 and last year’s 69-49 division one final at Ross Sheppard High School and the 73-42 provincial semifinal at Jasper Place.
The last win for the Rebels against the Skyhawks was 66-52 in the third-place game Dec. 15 at the 2018 REB Invitational at Jasper Place and the Skyhawks were missing DeMong, Annacy Palmer and Morgan Harris because of national age-group assessment camp commitments.
“This win feels good, but it doesn’t feel like the same as any of our other JP wins. Its different, but I don’t know how though,” said Sigue, a third-year Skyhawk along with DeMong and Kamryn DeKlerk as the only players remaining from the 29-7 provincial bronze medallists.
The trio are among eight returning Skyhawks from last year’s 30-5 championship lineup.
“It’s a different kind of team this year. We're faster and last year it was more like set-up plays and this year we're transitioning and getting quick baskets,” said DeMong in reference to the 2019 Skyhawks that ended the season with 22 wins in a row while going 13-0 in division one.
“We’re more cohesive and we really play for each other,” Sigue added.
Combatants
The latest beat-down of the Rebels was ultra special for the Skyhawks.
“It means a lot personally because a lot of us have played with each other so we're battling out there against our friends,” said DeMong of the familiarity among the players while competing for Team Alberta at various national age-group tournaments.
Friends turned into foes during 40 minutes of reckless abandon.
“It was intense. A lot of bodies hitting the floor. Very physical. One of our most physical games to be honest,” said Sigue, who channelled her inner beast mode in grabbing gobs of rebounds as the team’s defensive pillar while tacking up 11 points, including four field goals as the game’s first star.
DeMong agreed. “It was probably the most aggressive game we’ve had this year,” said the leading scorer for the Skyhawks with 14 points. “Stuff wasn’t getting called so it was pretty equal that way, but Mimi definitely got beat up under the rim.”
The Skyhawks took it to the Rebels in a big way while building up period leads of 21-6, 39-23 and 53-35.
“We knew they had scouted us so we had to concentrate on getting into our second looks and third looks whereas against other teams we would get first looks off of our plays, but they forced us to be creative with it,” DeMong said.
The Rebels were down and out early at 12-2 with 4:40 gone in the contest when head coach Lauren Green called a timeout and with a voice loud enough for the entire gym to hear, instructed her players to get their heads out of their you-know-what.
Three-pointers by Palmer and Matlyn Drefs before the first quarter ended had the Skyhawks flying high and not even a brief push-back by the Rebels in the next quarter could slow down the front runners.
“We tried to play our game. We didn’t worry too much about their pressure. We stayed as composed as we could be,” said Sigue, who potted seven points in the first half while Palmer scored eight of her 12 points before the break.
The Skyhawks ratcheted up the intensity during a 16-0 point run in the second half that started with the last six points in the third quarter on baskets by DeMong off a turnover, Dakota Wedman's jumper after a Sigue block and a highlight-reel bounce pass through traffic by DeKlerk for a streaking DeMong to scoop up and deposit before the buzzer sounded.
The scoring spree continued in the last 10-minute period, highlighted by Abbey Kornak’s slick inside-outside move for a one-handed layup to make it 57-35 and Maya Flindall’s over the back flip shot with five minutes left to widen the gap by 26 points, before the Rebels responded with Jenna Rinsky’s three-pointer with 3:14 to play. It was one of two three-balls by the Rebels in the match as Rinsky led the team with 16 points.
“After halftime we kind of realized it's pretty close and we’ve got to pick up our game and pick up our energy,” said DeMong, 17, a Hinton product who is committed to the Saskatchewan Huskies next season.
The spark that ignited the Skyhawks’ fire was their unrelenting defensive energy.
“We followed our game plan to some extent. We kept Jenna off the threes as much as possible,” said Sigue, 17, a junior high basketball graduate of the Vincent J. Maloney Marauders who will play for the Victoria Vikes next season.
FREE THROWS: Monday the Skyhawks are the visitors against the Paul Kane Blues, a 4A honourable mention, and the division one tipoff is 5 p.m.
Paul Kane is 6-3 in league play and 16-8 overall.
Early in the season, the Skyhawks whipped the Blues by 77 points in the 111-34 final of the Mike Dea Classic at St. Francis Xavier High School. It was the first of six tournaments for the 17-1 Skyhawks in weekend competitions and the lone loss was 76-68 to the Western Canada Redhawks in the Dec. 13 semifinal of the REB Invitational and DeMong committed to the national U18 assessment camp.
Western is ranked second in 4A after losing the rematch with the Skyhawks 91-66 in the St. Mary’s Saints Senior Classic semifinal Jan. 31 at Calgary.
Two of the Rebels' losses this season were against Western.
