The future looks bright for the Holy Trinity Academy Knights girl’s basketball program.
The Knights’ Junior Varsity girls team is coming off a successful season by winning the Foothills Athletic Council (FAC) championship.
The Knights fell just short of winning their second championship banner in less then 10 days when they lost the opening game of the South Central Zone tournament in Airdrie earlier this month to the Bow Valley Wolverines.
“We came out slow in the first quarter and, although the girls ‘won’ the next three quarters, they couldn’t make up the differential gained by Bow Valley in the first 10 minutes,” said Knights coach Scott Royce.
Although, the Knights were down from the loss, they weren’t out. They went on to win their next two games to win the consolation side of the tournament.
They downed crosstown rivals Foothills Falcons and then the Chestermere Lakers to win the consolation title.
The Knights had won the FAC title the week before by downing the Holy Cross Hawks at the Holy Trinity Academy gymnasium.
“We had a lot of girls step up and play really well for us,” said Knights’ point guard Ricki Theissen, about the FAC championship.
The veteran players had some special motivation because they had lost to the Oilfield Drillers in 2010 by one-point in the FAC final.
“It made us really motivated this year,” said Kennedy Kilcommons, a Grade 11 student. “We wanted to win our league.”
Guard Nissa Ali said one of the Knights’ strengths is it is a close-knit team. Several of the players were on the John Paul II Collegiate Gryphons, which won the FAC junior high school title two years ago.
Royce said he is proud of his team’s accomplishments this year.
“The girls came up short in zones, but they know that they had a legitimate chance to win both the league and then the zone banner,” he said. "This is a solid bunch of girls, one of the best teams I have coached in the last six years.”
Royce said he expects the JV Knights to be strong next year as well. He said there are approximately 15 girls from John Paul II Collegiate expected to try out for the team.
“So with four JV girls returning we should, again, have a very strong team,” he said. Royce said the Grade 11 players on the present roster will help the Senior Knights next season.
The Knights are Nissa Ali, Kennedy Kilcommons, Kyra Lindenbac, Adina Syrowitz, Ricki Theissen, Camille Anderson, Kristin Hatcher, Chelsea Sadler and Sarah Walsh.
