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Wolves, Bulldogs and Spirits hoop it up

Wolves tourney The Morinville Wolves finished second best at their 25 th annual home tournament. The men’s basketball final went down to the wire with the Holy Rosary Raiders of Lloydminster prevailing 73-69 Saturday.
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DANGLER – Matt Osunde of the Morinville Wolves busts a move in front of Daniel Nyembo of the Louis St. Laurent Barons in Saturday’s semifinal at the 25th annual Morinvile Wolves Invitational Tournament. Osunde registered 20 points, eight assists and eight rebounds in the 85-54 win and in the final the Grade 10 guard generated 25 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds in the 73-69 loss to the Holy Rosary Raiders of Lloydminster.

Wolves tourney

The Morinville Wolves finished second best at their 25th annual home tournament.

The men’s basketball final went down to the wire with the Holy Rosary Raiders of Lloydminster prevailing 73-69 Saturday.

Period scores were 16-15, 38-26 and 55-47 for the Raiders as the Wolves were unable to shoot the ball with the same efficiency during wins of 86-52 against the Eastglen Blue Devils and 85-54 against the Louis St. Laurent Barons.

Matt Osunde, a high-scoring Grade 10 guard, led the way against the Raiders with 25 points, including 19 in the second half as well as three three-pointers, plus 11 assists and eight rebounds.

Jacob Christensen contributed 11 points and five rebounds while Ben Doney had nine points and seven rebounds.

Riley Rathwell dropped 17 of his 27 points in the first half for the Raiders, an honourable mention in the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association 3A rankings.

In the tournament opener, Russ Foisy tossed in 23 points and the six-foot-two Christensen grabbed 18 rebounds while adding 15 points against Eastglen, 9-1 in the metro Edmonton division four league.

The Wolves nailed 11 three-pointers against Louis St. Laurent, 3-6 in division three.

Osunde, the tournament MVP at the Eastglen and Rise Up tournaments for the victorious Wolves, pumped in five three-balls in the first half as the Wolves led 29-14 after the first quarter and 46-28 at halftime.

Osunde finished with 17 points before the break and 20 overall in addition to eight assists and eight rebounds.

Foisy drained four three-pointers from downtown for 17 points in total.

Doney also recorded 17 points and seven rebounds.

The 18-5 Wolves, 10th in the second ASAA ranking period after previously receiving honourable mention status, are in Vegreville this weekend for tournament action before hosting the North Central zone championship March 8-9.

Last year the Wolves won zones and finished 10th at 3A provincials.

Wolves No. 5

The Morinville Wolves remain at No. 5 for the second-consecutive Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association ranking period in 3A women’s basketball.

The Wolves are 17-6 overall after losing two out of three games at the Beaumont tournament last weekend.

The first game for the Wolves was 67-63 against the Memorial Marauders, 5-3 in the metro Edmonton division two league, and two hours later fell 67-60 to the Archbishop Jordan Scots, 2-7 in division one.

The last game was the 53-44 setback to the No. 6 Sturgeon Spirits, 6-3 as the defending division two champions.

Jordan Hessell scored a team-high 16 points as Sturgeon’s defence slowed down the Wolves attack.

Alicia Diberadino added nine despite being in foul trouble.

Hessell, Laura Stalzer and Abagail Davey received player of the game honours for the Wolves.

This weekend is a major 3A tournament in Wetaskiwin and the Wolves will play the No. 3 McCoy Colts of Medicine Hat. The host Wetaskwin Sabres are No. 2.

Upcoming for the Wolves is the North Central zone championship next month in Drayton Valley for provincial qualification. The Wolves, 5-0 in league play, are the defending zone champions and at last year’s 3A provincials placed sixth.

Bellerose hoops

The Bellerose Bulldogs are the team to beat in the metro Edmonton division three women’s playoffs with one game left in league play.

Today at 5:30 p.m. Bellerose (9-1) hosts the Millwoods Christian Royals (4-6), a possible opponent for Monday’s quarter-final.

The division three final is March 2 at 6 p.m. at Ross Sheppard.

Bellerose lost the last two championship games while finishing 12-1 last year and 8-4 in 2017.

The seventh consecutive victory for Bellerose after losing 55-58 to the Lillian Osborne Legends (7-3) Dec. 17 was 54-42 against the J.H. Picard Pumas (5-5) last week.

Meanwhile, a win today for the Bellerose men against the Salisbury Sabres (5-5) to close out the regular season would help secure a playoff spot in the division two standings. Tipoff is 5 p.m. in Sherwood Park.

An eighth-place finish would set the stage for Monday’s quarter-final between Bellerose and the Paul Kane Blues (10-0). The Blues beat the 2018 finalists 80-60 Feb. 4.

The final is March 1 at 8 p.m. at Ross Sheppard.

Bellerose (3-7) was winless in five games before last week’s 77-63 decision against the Queen Elizabeth Knights (4-6).

Sturgeon No. 6

The Sturgeon Spirits are listed sixth in 3A women’s basketball for the second Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association ranking period.

The defending metro Edmonton division two champions are joined by the No. 4 St. Peter the Apostle Spartans of Spruce Grove and the No. 8 Oscar Romero Ravens in the top 10.

In the division two standings, the Spartans (9-0) are first, Sturgeon (6-3) is fourth and the Ravens (5-3) are fifth.

Sturgeon, the 10th-place team at the 2018 3A provincials, hosts the Ravens today at 5:30 p.m. as league play wraps up this week.

The playoffs start Monday and the final is March 1 at 6 p.m. at Ross Sheppard.

Last weekend at the Beaumont tournament, Sturgeon beat the Sedgewick Rams 77-24, lost to the division one Leduc Tigers 54-43 in the quarter-finals and in the consolation bracket beat the No. 5-ranked 3A Morinville Wolves 53-44 and the Highwood Mustangs of High River, a 3A honourable mention, 67-57.

Haylee Sidor, Sturgeon’s player of the game in the consolation final against Highwood, scored 26 points.

Also receiving player of the game honours were Camryn Kluthe against Sedgewick, Shelby Pierce against Leduc and Brooke Hedstrom against Morinville.

As for the division three Sturgeon men (4-4), Tuesday’s score against the Archbishop Jordan Scots (7-1) was unavailable at press time and the last league game is against the host Louis St. Laurent Barons (3-6) today at 5:30 p.m.

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