It continues to be a good day to be a Falcon on the hardcourt.
The Foothills Falcons senior girls basketball squad corralled their third tournament title of the season, taking out two ranked teams in a three-win weekend to finish on top at the St. Mary’s Saints Classic.
“The thing that really stands out to me is just how well they’re playing together as a team,” said Amron Gwilliam, head coach of both Falcons senior teams. “We have no selfishness and when anybody goes on the floor, they’re competing and they’re executing our game plans both offensively and defensively.
“And it’s just been a joy to coach all of them.”
In the final, Foothills edged a tough Magrath team 63-57, earning their second win in seven days over the Pandas.
“When we saw them, we knew we were up for a major challenge again,” Gwilliam said. “They’re exceptionally well-coached and way bigger than we are, but our girls played really well, really hard so we were able to come away with that victory.”
The Falcons got by the host St. Mary’s 64-56 in the semifinal and opened the competition with a 55-35 triumph over the Cardston Cougars.
Falcons guard Dior Sellars was named tournament MVP with Alexa Hayes earning tournament all-star honours.
It was a total team effort with a number of worthy candidates for individual accolades, the coach added.
Foothills is the No. 4 ranked 4A team in the ASAA provincial rankings, a fact the coach attributed to the collection of dedicated players.
“It’s just a major credit to the kids,” he said. “They work really hard, they put in a lot of effort and most of these girls are playing or training year-round.
“In addition to the hard work they put in, each of them has completely bought into playing as a team and not worrying about who scores the most points, just trying to make the best play every possession for the team.”
Across town, the Falcons boys had a strong finish at Bishop O’Byrne’s Legendary Bobcats Bowl with a 2-1 record.
Foothills, an honourable mention in the 4A boys rankings, delivered a 79-76 win over the St. Francis Browns in its opener with an 80-67 loss to Sir Winston Churchill to follow.
In the finale, the Falcons bounced the host Bobcats by a 76-53 score.
“It was nice and we rolled through our bench pretty liberally,” Gwilliam said. “It felt like everyone who played for us that day got on the scoresheet and we had a couple of our JV kids who floated up with us that game and they played really well.
“It seemed like everyone was playing well, especially a couple of guys who haven’t got as many minutes like Braxton Smidstrup who came in and played really big and gave us a jolt.”
Both Falcons teams are back in Calgary this weekend for Western High School’s tournament with the boys and girls both taking on St. Mary’s in the tournament openers.
Next week, in exhibition play the Falcons host the HTA Knights for a senior basketball double-header on Feb. 13.
