A streak of 19 straight wins in premier women’s high school basketball ended Thursday for the St. Albert Skyhawks.
The 72-65 setback against the O’Leary Spartans at the SkyDome was the first loss since the 2009 playoffs.
“We were always in the game,” said Shelby Hucul, co-captain of the No. 1-ranked 3A team in Alberta. “We were working hard. Our shots were going in pretty good, too.”
The defending 3A provincial gold medallists and metro Edmonton champions are 5-1 in premier and 8-7 overall. The Spartans, the top 4A team in the province, are 4-0 in league play. They lost last year’s premier final to the Skyhawks 74-72 on two free throws by Kendall Lydon with 0.1 to play.
“We’re kind of rivals with O’Leary now so we knew it was going to be a tough game,” Hucul said.
The Spartans led 17-13 after the first quarter, 34-29 at halftime and 52-49 after three quarters. They broke it open in the opening 2:38 minutes of the last period with a five-point surge to make it 57-49.
The biggest lead of the game for the Skyhawks was three, when Zoe Downing’s three-pointer put them on top 24-21 with 3:39 left in the second quarter. The Spartans closed out the first half with a seven-point run and outscored the Skyhawks 12-5 in the last 3:25 minutes before the break on the strength of three three-pointers. The Spartans drained three more threes in the second half.
“They were shooting quite well. They banked a lot of threes,” said Hucul.
The valuable point guard sank a team-leading 18 points. Her second three of the game with 59 seconds remaining trimmed the deficit to eight points. Seconds later, Haley Warmington’s basket off a turnover left the Skyhawks trailing by six.
Warmington scored nine of her 15 points in the second half. Paige Knull recorded 11 points and Lydon had 10.
Adut Bulgak, the Spartans’ dominating Grade 12 post, notched a game-high 22 points. The best player in premier racked up 13 points in the second half and sealed the deal with three free throws with less than 25 seconds to go.
Knull, a five-foot-eight Grade 10 hoopster, spent most of the match marking Bulgak and deserved a game star for her tireless performance.
Last month Bulgak riddled the short but skilled Skyhawks for 19 points in the tournament final of the Mike Dea Classic, a 52-41 Spartans victory.
“It’s always going to be hard with Adut, who is six-foot-three or maybe even more, but we battled in there good today,” Hucul said. “We just need to box out a little bit more.”
The first game back after the Christmas break for the Skyhawks was Wednesday’s 63-41 decision against the visiting Bev Facey Falcons (1-5). Hucul tossed in 22 points. Knull and Downing added nine apiece.
During the holidays the Skyhawks competed at the Cactus Jam Tournament in Phoenix and finished 0-3 without starters Katie Burak and Lydon in the line-up. They lost by 39 to Skyline from the Seattle area and by four and three respectively, against British Columbia teams Holy Cross and Riverside.
“We played some really good teams. It’s really going to help us out,” said Hucul. The 17-year-old is one of five returnees on the 11-player roster and joins forward Stephanie Gartner as the only Grade 12s on the team.
“We’re starting to come together as a team. Our Grade 10s are starting to fit in and know their roles,” Hucul said.
The Skyhawks are marching towards their seventh consecutive trip to provincials and their fifth in a row as the Edmonton zone champions.
“If we keep working hard and pushing like we’re doing we can continue that tradition of winning,” Hucul said. “There is some pressure but I don’t believe anyone is getting freaked out by it. Everyone knows we have so much potential so we if keep working this hard I believe we can possibly do it again.”
On tap Monday for the Skyhawks is the surprising Paul Kane Blues, 5-0 in premier and 9-2 overall. Tip-off is 6:15 at Paul Kane.
“It’s going to be an exciting game,” Hucul said. “If we play like we played today, we’ll have a pretty good chance.”
The eighth-ranked 4A Blues are spearheaded by a strong cast of forwards, led by provincial team post Kelly Fagan. Their bench is deep with lots of quality shooters.
“We’re approaching it like any other game. We’re going to give it our all,” Hucul said.
