BARRHEAD – The Barrhead Senior Gryphons girls finished just off the podium in fourth place while the boys won the consolation final in the eight-team Gryphons Classic tournament hosted by Barrhead Composite High School on Dec. 16-17.
On the girls' side, the Gryphons opened up against Whitecourt's Hilltop Chargers, winning 49-42 to qualify for the championship side of the tournament.
In their second game, the Gryphons faced Peace Wapiti Academy, to whom they narrowly lost by two baskets in overtime.
At halftime, Peace Wapiti Academy held a 26-18 lead.
However, a strong third quarter by the Gryphons allowed them to take the lead 35-32 into the final quarter.
Unfortunately, Barrhead could not maintain the lead and the Peace Wapiti Academy took a narrow 43-42 lead with a minute left in the game.
But with about 30 seconds left to go, a Gryphon drew a foul and sank sinks one out of two free throws to tie the game, forcing a five-minute overtime.
For most of the overtime, the two teams exchanged chances and baskets, but late in the extra frame, Peace Wapiti Academy forced two turnovers which they were able to capitalize on.
In the bronze medal matchup, the Gryphons faced the Edson Pacers. After the end of the first quarter, the Pacer led 17-13, but by halftime, the Gryphons had clawed their way back into the game, tying it 38-38.
By the end of an evenly played third quarter, Barrhead had managed to pull out a 36-34 lead. The fourth quarter remained close, with the two teams exchanging baskets until about the five-minute mark when Edson managed to pull away with them, winning 49-42.
Head coach Jennifer Tuininga said she was proud of how her team battled throughout the tournament.
"It is still early in the season, and we have a few things to work on, but the girls played extremely hard, and if a few things went our way, it might have been a totally different tournament," she said.
For example, Tuininga noted if they shot a little better at the free-throw line, they may have been able to hold on to the game against Peace Wapiti Academy. Or in the final game against Edson, they could have kept better track of their foul situation, noting two players fouled out and were not available down the final stretch.
On the boys' side, Barrhead lost their first game against Whitecourt's Hilltop Chargers 60-59 in dramatic fashion.
Barrhead was up by two with about a minute and a half left in the game when Whitecourt hit a three-point shot to put them up by one.
Unfortunately, with the time remaining the Gryphons could not mount a counterattack.
The loss put the team on the consolidation championship track. In their next game, Barrhead rebounded with a strong performance beating the Onoway Mustangs in decisive fashion 69-45, which put them into the consolation final against Devon, which they won in a back-and-forth game, finally coming out on top, 40-36.
“Our boys played their hearts out. We've only had a few practices and are learning as we go,” said Thijs de Wildt, who co-coaches the team with Thomas Koekkoek.
In their game against Onoway, he said they took full advantage of their chances to shoot the ball and that they played strong defence which allowed them to transition to the fast break.
"It allowed us to score a lot of quick points without having them score on us," de Wildt said, giving special kudos to centre Gavin Henschel who ended the game with 28 points.
In their final game, de Wildt said the Gryphons did a good job making the most of their offensive opportunities, especially on the free throw line, as the game did not have much flow and "was filled with stops and whistles."
"The boys played great with a lot of energy. And we are just getting started," he said. "We have a lot of potential and are excited to see where we end up this season."
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