The St. Anthony’s Jr. A Girls basketball team won the Three Hills Royals Jr. A Girls Basketball Tournament on Saturday, January 17.
Six teams were invited to participate in the tourney, including Three Hills, St. Anthony’s, Olds High School, DVSS, Olds Koinonia, and Rosemary.
The format for the tournament featured two pools of 3 teams playing a round robin schedule, and then each team having a crossover playoff game based on their final placing in round robin play.
The Saints had the early 8 a.m. game versus their host Three Hills Royals, and after a slow start, the Saints pulled ahead utilizing great pressure defence resulting in a 42-18 win.
High scorers for the Saints were Payton Zacharuk and Hannah Reed with 14 points each and Ocean Bossert with 10 points.
The next round robin game for the Saints was against Olds High School at 10:30 am. This was OHS’s first game and the Saints’ second with only a game’s rest after their first game.
The Saints were sluggish to start as they were still tired from the 8:00 am game but once again utilized great defence to find their transition game. This resulted in a number of fast-break points and lead to a double-digit lead at the half.
In the second half, the Saints controlled the tempo of the game by slowing down the play to eventually find scoring opportunities in the low post. The Saints ended up defeating OHS 36-22. Bossert and Reed lead the Saints in scoring netting 14 points each.
This win now placed St. Anthony’s in 1st place in their pool and into the final vs. the winner of the other pool Olds Koinonia Christian School.
The Saints had a 7 hour wait for the final game but came out with tremendous energy and intensity igniting an early 10-0 first quarter lead in the final. OKCS answered back and got within 10-9 near the middle of the first quarter but then the Saints pressure defence took over for the rest of the game forcing many turnovers leading to easy transition points.
The Saints never looked back resulting in a 47-26 championship win.
Reed had a game high 21 points and Zacharuk chipped in with 12 points.
Head coach Gavin Makse was pleased with the overall defensive performance of the Saints and believed this was the key ingredient in winning the tournament,
“I was proud of how well the girls battled defensively all day. It was a long day and the girls should be proud that they were able to keep their intensity on defence strong in every game,” he said,
Next action for the Jr. A Saints is on Thursday, January 22 when they travel to Delia for league play.
