The Holy Trinity Academy Knights got more than a bronze medal at a Senior girls high school basketball tournament last weekend. They learned what they need to do to compete with the top 3A teams in the province.
The Knights finished third at the Sandie Bexson Memorial Senior girls basketball tournament in High River by downing the Mount Baker Wild 69-50 in the bronze-medal game Feb. 4.
“Our focus in a game like that is not to beat someone by 40 points, we want to make sure everyone gets some playing time,” Knights coach Ken Power said. “We put some different combinations on in the second half and it was a good chance to have our players play quite a bit.”
The Knights were led by Grade 10 student Charissa Hielema who poured in 15 points, going seven for nine from the field. Kyra Lindenbach contributed 13 points for the Knights and she also nabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
HTA played for third after being thumped by Medicine Hat’s McCoy Colts 82-38 on Feb. 4 in the semifinal.
The Colts finished second in the 3A (400-799 students) provincials last season and are ranked No. 2 in the latest polls released in January. It was a game the Knights were looking forward to, despite the Colts’ high ranking.
“We want to play the best teams we can because that is how you improve,” Power said. “We played them pretty well defensively and rebounded well.”
He said the Knights decided to play a quick offense rather than slowing things down as what is usually done against stronger teams.
“We made a coaching decision for the girls to learn what it takes to play that style of game against a strong team,” Power said.
Melissa Bass led the team in scoring with 11 points against McCoy.
While HTA Knight Ryan Kennedy doesn’t like losing, they learned a thing or two from the loss.
“It can be good to lose sometimes because it helped us realize we have to step up our game if we want to be one of the top teams in the province,” said Kennedy who had 10 points in the game. “I think we also need to keep positive on the bench.”
The Knights opened the tournament with a nail-biting 67-62 overtime victory against the Magrath Pandas on Feb. 3.
The Pandas were able to take a 54-53 lead with 16 seconds left in the fourth quarter, but HTA’s Melissa Bass was able to tie the game after calmly making the back-end of two foul shots.
The Knights were a different team in the overtime.
“I thought we controlled the clock better in the overtime than we did in regulation,” Power said.
The Knights’ shooting percentage in the victory over Magrath was lower than Newt Gingrich’s presidential chances. The Knights shot a woeful 32 per cent from the field, Kennedy led the team in scoring with 14 points.
McCoy won the gold medal by beating the host Highwood Mustangs 81-46 in the final.
Things don’t get any easier for the Knights. They play in the Centennial Coyotes tournament this weekend
In Foothills Athletic Council action the Knights beat the Strathcona-Tweedsmuir Spartans on Feb. 6 to improve their record to 6-1.
There will be a showdown for first-place in the FAC when the Knights face the 5-1 Foothills Falcons at 5:30 p.m. at Holy Trinity Academy.
