It pays to listen to your older sister.
The Holy Trinity Academy Knights are sitting atop the Foothills Athletic Council senior girls basketball standings with a perfect record and they are being helped by two sets of sisters – Skylar and Brooklyn Bonertz and Jenna and Kylie Tiedje.
It’s the first time the Grade 12 Skylar has played with her younger sister. Skylar had previously played with older sister Jordan, who graduated last year and is now red-shirting with the U of C Dinos.
“I like playing with Brooklyn – she passes a lot,” Skylar said with a laugh. “At first, it was kind of bad, because I wasn’t used to how she played, but it’s gotten better.”
For Brooklyn having her older sister on the court has helped her cross the bridge from the junior high St. John Paul II Collegiate Gryphons to the Knights.
“It’s a lot more fast-paced than junior high and there are a lot of big girls,” said the 5-foot-8 Brooklyn, who was often the tallest player on the court in junior high. “When Skylar yells at me, I know I have to do something different.”
Yell? Where’s the sisterly love from the Knights guard and co-captain?
“I just tell her to shoot when I pass it to her because I know she can make them, but she just doesn’t look for that sometimes,” Skylar explained.
Brooklyn got over some early season jitters (“Skylar is so good"), but so far it has been the highlight in her young basketball career.
The Bonertz sisters come by their basketball prowess honestly. Mother Jennifer played with the Red Deer College Queens and father Todd, played high school hoops in Pincher Creek.
The Tiedjes are also playing basketball for the first time together.
The Grade 12 Jenna, a co-captain, has made the senior team after two years of JV. Kylie, a Grade 10 student, made the jump right to senior ball.
“We have played other sports together, soccer, but this is the first year for basketball,” Jenna said. “I don’t have to give her a lot of advice, just reinforcement.
“If she’s not playing well, it’s like ‘Keep going, Kylie,’ she’s ‘Stop saying that."”
Kylie laughed, adding: “I do get grumpy, but I enjoy it (playing with Jenna).
“The few times that we are on the court together I think we have good chemistry. I like it.”
Kylie played high-calibre soccer – she and Jenna were on the Knights zone championship soccer team in the fall – but said her focus has been more on basketball in recent years.
Jenna said having Kylie on the squad has made a good year even better.
“We all just want to go out there, work hard and have fun,” she said.
Knights coach Scott Royce said the sisters have contributed to the team’s chemistry.
“We lost a lot of talent between last year’s team and this year’s,” Royce said. “The team chemistry is truly different than I have seen in years... There are many reasons for this and one of them is the four sisters.
“The entire team have bought into our play schemes and philosophy, they are all such a joy to be around.”
The Tiedjes and Bonertzs were scheduled to start against the Strathcona-Tweedsmuir Spartans on Jan. 15, but the game was cancelled due to cold weather.
“That was the plan,” Royce said. “We call them the Five S’s – the four sisters and Sawyer Harding.”
Skylar will have the distinction of playing with a sibling her entire high school career, two years with Jordan (who was injured in 2018-19) and her senior year with Brooklyn.
“I love it,” she said.
Meanwhile, Brooklyn might have the chance to play her entire career with a sister. There’s another Bonertz knocking on the door – younger sister Jillian is on the SJPII Gryphons Grade 9 squad, under the guidance of coach Todd Bonertz.
As for the Tiedjes, Kylie is the youngest.
The four honour-students sisters and the Knights will focus on final exams for the rest of the month. Their next action is at the Centennial Coyotes Howler on Feb. 7-8 and they return to FAC action when they travel to Black Diamond to take on the talented Oilfields Drillers on Feb. 10.
