The St. Albert SLAM bantam A girls capped off a perfect 17-0 season of basketball with a provincial championship.
The SLAM girls are Kristen Budney, Rachael McIntyre, Katie Fitzgerald, Jamie Cole, Marinya Maracichiw, Megan Tywoniuk, Nicole Clayton, Amy Mildenberger, Sidney Hurlburt and Shay Esposito. Head coach is Karen Hurlburt.
In Saturday’s final at the Basketball Alberta youth provincials in Edmonton, Tywoniuk scored a team-high 18 points as the SLAM beat Sparx Calwest of Calgary 60-53. Mildenberger sank 10 points and Clayton and Hurlburt added eight apiece.
In the round robin at provincials, the SLAM posted victories of 68-23 over Varsity (Calgary), 47-43 over Calwest and 51-26 over Southwest Flare.
In the Edmonton Youth Basketball Association, the SLAM were undefeated in 13 games.
The St. Albert SLAM Towers stood tall at the Basketball Alberta youth provincials Saturday in Edmonton.
In the mini B girls’ final the Towers defeated the NEBA Cheetahs 31-14.
The Towers are Sierra Gaulden, Madison Freeman, Kaisa Kleppe-Leblanc, Kamilla Kleppe-Leblanc, Kristin Koltof, Georgia Mercier, Chloe Schell, Payton McNeill, Andrea Shields, Kenzie Gannon and Abby Marks. Head coach is Brian Koltof. Assistant coach is Renee Schell and the manager is Lara Mercier.
The St. Albert Impact U14 tier II boys made it as far as the bronze-medal game at the provincial indoor soccer tournament, only to lose 6-4 to the Edmonton Extreme at Servus Credit Union Place.
The Impact kicked off provincials with a 3-0 loss to Foothills Galaxy and a 3-1 win over the Medicine Hat Crusaders. Because the Impact and Sherwood Park Phoenix were tied on points and goal difference to determine the semifinal pairings, the teams held a penalty shootout at 7:30 a.m. Sunday and the Impact won 6-5.
In the playoff round the Impact lost 6-3 to Foothills Galaxy, the eventual silver medallists.
The teams the Impact played at provincials were older and bigger in size.
Grade 12 wrestlers Sabrina Kelly and Breanne Pare of the Paul Kane Blues ruled the mat at the recent high school provincial championships in Calgary.
In the female division, Kelly placed first out of 12 grapplers in the 70-kilogram category and Pare was the top competitor in a field of eight in the 80-plus kg event.
Last year Kelly was good as gold at 70 kg and Pare was the 80-plus kg bronze medallist.
Meanwhile, Bellerose Bulldogs’ football players Sean Allen and Lewis Biamonte finished fifth and sixth respectively, out of 12 wrestlers in the 90 kg class. Allen’s showing equalled his placing last year at the same weight at provincials.
The St. Albert athletes qualified for provincials at the Edmonton zone tournament last month.
