The Morinville Lady Wolves howled in celebration of their second consecutive SAPEC championship in junior high hoops.
“It feels amazing knowing that we won it out of all the St. Albert teams in the league. It’s really incredible,” Grade 9 guard Carrie Mossie said after the Wolves hung on to edge the Sir George Simpson Voyageurs 39-38 in Friday’s barnburner at the SkyDome.
There was no scoring in the last 2:44 minutes of play in the intense final after a bucket by Amanda Kluthe put the Wolves on top by one. The winning points were scored off a turnover, as Katrina Lessard ripped the ball out of the hands of a Simpson player near midcourt, then fired a bullet to the wide-open Kluthe for the easy layup.
“The game could’ve went either way,” said Mossie, who led the Wolves offensively with 14 points. “Simpson put up a huge fight. They did amazing. They really did.”
With time a factor, the Wolves didn’t wilt under intense pressure as Simpson kept attacking in waves.
“We won it through hard work. Our defence was really good too,” Mossie said. “It was just back and forth at the end. We would put up a fight and they would put up a fight. It was a really good game.”
With 1:17 remaining, Mossie turned in a defensive gem by alertly poking the ball away from Simpson’s most dangerous player, Haley Cabral, in front of the Voyageurs’ bench.
Cabral was later stymied in Morinville’s end by a joint effort from Zoe Majeau and Kaitlyn Dryden as the Wolves ratcheted up their defence.
After a timeout by Simpson with 26.7 remaining, an inbound play by the Voyageurs in Morinville territory was broken up by Mossie. She wrestled the ball away from a player stationed outside the three-point line and then passed it off as the Wolves worked several seconds off the clock.
A late push for points by Simpson ended when Kluthe picked off a pass near midcourt with only seconds to go.
“That could’ve been it for us,” Mossie said. “It was just insane at the end.”
Simpson lacked finish with the game on the line.
“It was intense, very aggressive. Everyone wants the ball. Everyone is going for it. You want your team to win and you’re trying everything you can to stop the other team, while at the same time you’re trying to get the ball in the hoop,” said Cabral, the top scorer in the final with 16 points. “We would get the ball and it would go out of bounds or we would drive for the layup but the refs wouldn’t call the foul. They would get the ball and go down the floor and you would sprint back to get it back. It was tough to keep up. It was tiring.”
The final was deadlocked at 10 apiece at the end of the first quarter as Chantal Jouan drained a buzzer-beater for Simpson to close out the period.
The Wolves outscored Simpson 14-7 in the second quarter for a healthy lead at halftime. Three baskets by Mossie in the quarter increased her point total in the first half to 12.
A three-ball by Cabral gave Simpson a brief 15-14 lead with 5:58 left until the break.
With 1:04 to go in the half, Simpson called a timeout to regroup after Mossie converted a nice baseline layup and then seconds later stole the ball and raced in for the layup to put the Wolves up by five.
“There was a lot of nerves going on. You’re playing as hard as you can because you want to win really bad,” Cabral said.
It was 27-17 Wolves early in the third quarter when Cabral rallied the Voyageurs with a bucket, followed by a couple of free throws.
The first of two three-pointers by Jouan lit a fire under the Simpson supporters as the Voyageurs pulled to within five with 4:44 left until quarter time. Before the period ended, Kaitlyn Hunter’s field goal closed the gap to three points at 31-28.
In the fourth quarter, the Wolves extended their lead with a bucket by Mossie and then Kenzie MacKinnon’s layup after a defensive rebound by Kluthe with 5:41 left in regulation time.
Morinville’s height advantage added to Simpson’s woes as Kluthe swatted a shot into the stands with the Wolves in front by four.
“Their defence was a bit bigger,” Cabral said. “They also got around a little quicker and their fast break down the floor was faster than us.”
It was 37-34 Wolves when Simpson rallied to grab the lead on two free throws by Denae Patenaude and a pair by Cabral, with the last two points of the game by Simpson coming with 3:16 remaining.
“We played a lot better in the second half. We were way more aggressive. We were into the game a lot more. Everyone was focused on the bench. Everyone did their job,” said Cabral, 13, who posted 12 points in the second half.
The spunky Grade 8 guard was proud of how Simpson never surrendered in the hard fought affair.
“We were in that game the whole time. It was anyone’s to win or lose. They just pulled ahead with that one extra point that we couldn’t get back.”
As for the Wolves, the city crown was the second in team history. Kluthe, Lessard, Majeau and Arinne Young are retuning players from last year’s 50-41 breakthrough performance against Simpson in the final to finish 24-4 overall. This year’s squad was 13-4, including a 5-2 league record to place second in a three-way tie with Simpson and the Vincent J. Maloney Marauders.
“It feels amazing what we did as a team this year,” said Mossie, 14.
