A trip to provincials was hanging in the balance for the Paul Kane Blues after Wednesday’s loss in the Edmonton zone playdowns.
The metro Edmonton premier women’s basketball finalists had to beat the Archbishop Jordan Scots on Friday night in order to qualify for today’s playoff to determine the fourth zone team at next week’s 4A provincial tournament at Ross Sheppard High School. The score against the Scots was unavailable at press time. If successful, the Blues play this morning at 11 a.m. at The King’s University College. Admission is $3.
The Blues put themselves in the do-or-die situation after succumbing 63-57 to the Harry Ainlay Titans at Paul Kane.
“We can’t approach it any other way. If we lose, we’re done,” a teary-eyed Allie Larson told the Gazette following an emotion-filled post-game team meeting. “We’ll just go in and do our best and see how it works out.”
In the premier standings the Blues (10-4) finished third and the Scots (9-5) placed fourth. The teams split the season series: the Scots were pounded 73-30 in December at Sherwood Park and the Blues got rocked 74-65 last month at Paul Kane.
The Scots dropped their zone match to the Jasper Place Rebels, the Edmonton public league tier 1 finalists, 78-69.
In the zone opener for the Blues, they failed to rise to the challenge against the Titans, 5-5 overall in tier 1 public as the league’s third seed at zones.
“They just wanted it more than we did,” said Larson, a hard-working Grade 12 forward who drained a team-high 18 points. “We just didn’t show up and play our game. We played their game and that’s never going to work out for us.”
The eighth-ranked 4A team in Alberta was erratic offensively while out-rebounded by the smaller, more aggressive Titans, who earned 4A honourable mention status along with the Scots in the final rankings.
“Their press troubled us and we couldn’t seem to execute our offence properly like we practiced. We fell into their traps. We did everything they wanted us to do and eventually that just caught up to us,” Larson said.
Trailing by four at halftime, the Blues busted loose with 10 consecutive points — triggered by a field goal and two free throws by Larson to knot the score — before the Titans got on the board in the third quarter with two foul shots with 5:36 left in the period. The Titans outscored the Blues 12-6 before Whitney Follette’s put-back with two seconds left evened the count at 41 apiece.
The Titans broke open the deadlock with a 10-point run to start the fourth quarter before Jenny Howe replied for the home team with a jumper with 7:16 to play.
The Titans eventually pulled ahead by 12 before Larson’s bucket with 1:37 to go gave the Blues some hope.
After a foul shot by Howe cut the lead to seven, the teams traded a whack of points in the last minute of regulation time. The Blues made it interesting with three-balls by sharpshooter Josee Larson with 36.7 remaining that cut the deficit to six, followed by her older sister Allie with 23 seconds left that tightened the gap to 59-54 and Josee again with a long rim-rattler with 9.9 on the clock to make it 60-57.
“We never give up, definitely. Sometimes we have lapses but we always play right up to the end but today it just wasn’t quite enough,” said Allie, who fouled out with 8.7 showing and the Titans up by three.
Jessilyn Fairbanks pumped in the last eight points for the Titans on clutch free throws during an 8-for-10 stint from the line. She tacked up 12 overall in the fourth quarter and led all scorers with 24 points on the strength of four three-balls. Three of her three-pointers were tossed in during the second quarter as the Titans outscored the Blues 14-11 to end the first half.
Chipping in offensively for the Blues was Follette with 12 points. Josee recorded nine, all on three-balls. Howe added five and Kelly Fagan and Brittney Scott had four apiece.
The Blues were coming off a humbling 66-48 loss in the premier final to the O’Leary Spartans, ranked number-one in 4A. The Blues never held the lead once against the Spartans. Their only loss in premier was 59-54 to the Blues prior to the league playoffs.
“I would say we came in [to this game] with the same mindset [as the final]. We might have made [the score] a little bit closer but I don’t think that meant anything in how we played today,” said Allie, 18, who sank 13 points in the second half and was clearly the best Paul Kane player on the court against the Titans. “I wouldn’t say we’re disappointed [with the loss] but we’re definitely looking for something to change.”
