The Oilfields Drillers know the road to the Foothills Athletic Council title runs through Foothills Composite.
They found out on Monday night how difficult that road will be. The Oilfields Senior girls hosted Foothills Composite in their first meeting since the Drillers girls program was resurrected.
The Falcons controlled the pace early in the game and managed to maintain a double-digit lead (49-35) heading into the final quarter.
The Drillers found it difficult to contain a towering Falcons frontcourt, which continued to grab offensive rebounds and extend possessions.
Falcons’ head coach Travis Wilson said rebounding is key for his team.
“That’s something we need to do… The team that rebounds is going to be the team that wins,” he stated.
Although the Falcons continued to control the pace, Drillers forward Carly Hoar kept things close with several drives to the basket. Hoar was the offensive catalyst for the inexperienced Oilfields’ squad.
Though a last minute full-court press by Oilfields made things interesting, the Falcons held on for a 63-53 road victory. The Drillers were encouraged by the outcome, particularly their play in the dying minutes.
“If they could play with that intensity for more than a minute and a half, we’d be doing really well,” coach Barb Binkley pointed out.
For Hoar, the way to overcome Foothills is a mental exercise more than a physical one.
“We’ve just always gotten slaughtered by them so we always think that we are (going to be). But if we just think positive, we’re way better than them,” she said.
In the second half of the evening’s doubleheader, the Drillers Senior boys sought to bring down a high-flying Falcons squad.
Clearly the favourite in the FAC, the Falcons faced little resistance in their home opener. The game in Oilfields would be a different story.
The Drillers sunk shot after shot in the opening half and jumped out to a six-point lead after the first quarter.
Oilfields took advantage of a Foothills zone defence that was unable to close out on their three point attempts.
“They shot the lights out in the first half,” Falcons coach Amron Gwilliam said of Oilfields.
Drillers guards Nick Coolen, Jace Elliot and Dylan Perrault converted several open looks helping Oilfields take a 44-40 lead into halftime.
The second half proved to be a different story.
The Falcons switched to a man-to-man defence in the second half, which took advantage of their height and strength on the inside.
Foothills opened up the second half on a 13-2 run and never looked back.
With momentum on their side, the Falcons soared to a 91-77 win.
“(Foothills) played well in the second, they probably out hustled us in the second half,” Drillers coach Randy Heidebrecht said.
After a tumultuous first half, the key to the Falcons success was just to settle down and play as a team, Falcons point guard Landon Pitcher explained.
“I think the first half we were kind of nagging on each other but we stopped nagging on each other and it seemed to help out a little bit,” he said.
Coolen was resolute in what they need to work on moving forward.
“We’ve got to work harder on defence, it’s all about defence,” he said.
The loss overshadowed what was a positive effort from an upstart Drillers squad.
“I think that’s a huge thing for the guys’ confidence, knowing that they can play with Foothills because Foothills is known to be the number one team in our league,” said Heidebrecht.
FAC action
The Holy Trinity Knights remained undefeated in the FAC at 2-0 after downing the Notre Dame T’Wolves 92-49 Monday at HTA.
Knights coach Sam Aiello was able to play his entire line-up.
One highlight was guard Ryan Hassler returning after seriously injuring his ankle on the gridiron in the fall. Hassler will be a key part of the Knights’ line-up in the new year. The Knights won their opening FAC game by beating the Highwood Mustangs 69-58 Dec. 8 in High River.
It was a sloppy game that isn’t about to be highlighted on TSN.
James LaGrange had 23 points in the victory. Riley Moss came off the bench and hit a pair of big buckets for HTA.
The Knights travel to Strathmore to play the Spartans tonight, Dec. 15.
The Holy Trinity Knights Senior girls also remained undefeated by downing the Notre Dame T’wolves Monday.
The Knights won their opening game 54-52 over the Highwood Mustangs on Dec. 8 in High River.
Kristin Ford scored the final six points for HTA to seal the victory against their rivals to the south.
The Knights are in Strathmore tonight.
