The tradition of greatness continues for the Richard S. Fowler Falcons.
The powerhouse junior high girls’ basketball program went wire to wire for the second-straight undefeated season while winning its third consecutive St. Albert Physical Education Council championship in the fourth Tier I city final in a row.
“It’s amazing to know that we helped contribute to winning city finals again for the school and we hope in the future the team does it again,” said Grade 9 post Rory Vandermeer after Tuesday’s convincing 73-49 outcome against the Vincent J. Maloney Marauders at the SkyDome.
Visit www.StAlbertToday.ca for the team’s championship picture.
The 22nd win without a loss this season extended Fowler’s winning streak that included last year’s 19-0 record after going 19-3 in 2017.
Head coach Doug Ducharme put on his thinking cap to figure out the last time Fowler wound up on the wrong side of the scoreboard.
“I think our last loss was in the Power of 3 tournament (in Spruce Grove) in 2017. We lost to VJM in the third-place game maybe. It’s been awhile,” Ducharme said.
As for this year’s championship lineup of 10 Grade 9s and two Grade 8s as well as six returnees from last year and four third-year players, “We worked great as a team. We played to everyone’s advantages. We didn’t come out cocky, we came out with our head in the game and we knew that if we played our best basketball we would come out with another city championship,” Vandermeer said. “We have great coaches (Ducharme and Josephine Pacholik) and we spent lots of time practicing. We know what we’re doing and we work well together. We’re just confident all around as a team.”
The championship run for Fowler started after the 60-43 loss to the Lorne Akins Gators in the 2016 city final and this year’s playoff banner is arguably the best of the bunch for the Falcons, 11-0 in SAPEC.
“It feels great. The coaches really helped us stay intense through the whole season because we knew that every game was really important,” said Grade 9 guard Maya Flindall, who was joined by Abbey Kornak, Elizabeth Salcedo and Diana Rodriguez as third-year Falcons to experience only three losses while hooping it up at Fowler.
Vandermeer, 14, summed up the team’s performance as “miraculous” in Tuesday’s final.
“We came out and did what we knew we had to do to win,” said Fowler’s top scorer with 17 points that included 10 in the first half. “We pushed the ball and scored and stopped them from scoring.
“We’re just really excited to win another one for our school.”
The final was a done deal at halftime after Fowler outscored VJM 23-11 in the second quarter for a commanding 33-19 lead at the break.
“We gained a lot of momentum, we all worked together and we were able to get each other the ball in good spots,” Flindall said. “We’re super intense and we’re super fast. We were able to intercept passes and we just played together on the floor.”
Flindall, 14, spearheaded the attack in the nine-minute second period with a 10-point outburst as Fowler pulled away from VJM during a 12-point scoring spree to make it 26-10.
A stretch of eight points in row by Flindall was highlighted by three consecutive baskets and the third score upped the ante to 30-15 with under four minutes left until halftime.
Fowler continued dropping the ball through the hoop in the second half as the third quarter ended with 11 unanswered points to widen the gap at 51-28.
“Our shots were falling,” said Flindall, who finished with 14 points.
Salcedo and Kornak drained 10 points apiece, Hannah Lauckner chipped in with nine and Jordan Lang added eight.
Fowler lived up to the pre-game hype as the team to fear with its fifth win of the season against VJM and three of the outcomes were the tournament finals at the VJM pre-season opener, Boston Pizza Invitational, hosted by SAPEC, and the Fowler Classic.
“It was a really important game for us and luckily we all came together as a team,” Flindall said. “It’s just a great way to end junior high (for the 10 Grade 9s) with a win like this.”
Fowler also beat VJM for the SAPEC championship last year 60-43 for its sixth victory of the season against the SAPEC rivals and 47-39 in 2017.
Obviously, the odds were stacked against VJM based on previous results the last two years against Fowler.
“All the other teams we beat them by a lot,” said Jordana Rivet, a sharp-shooting Grade 9 VJM guard who led all scorers in the championship match with 28 points. “In league play (9-2 record) we didn’t do so good against them (80-36 in the second-last game before the playoffs) but in this final game we did way better against them.
“Our coaches (Rob Rawcliffe is the longtime VJM bench boss) supported us. They told us what to do and what plays to run and we ran them,” Rivet said. “We came out in the first quarter strong and in the second quarter we kind of fell because they went on a run.
“We just tried our best and did everything we could but we didn’t come out with the win.”
Rivet, 14, piled up 14 points in the fourth quarter and her scoring totals including two three-pointers in the first half.
The next-highest VJM scorer was Abby Japuncic with six points.
“My teammates came up with the ball when they saw me open. They passed it and I just shot it and it went in,” Rivet said. “They always found the open person and that’s why we always worked as a team together running our plays and looking for the open person.”
