Next stop, provincials.
Edwin Parr Composite’s senior girls basketball team won their zone championship last weekend in Athabasca.
It’s the first zone championship for the EPC senior girls in 12 years, and it didn’t come easy. They took on top-ranked Morinville in the championship game and battled back from numerous deficits before finally winning 62-61 in overtime.
“We were down 18 (at one point) and managed to keep coming back,” said head coach Wade Hicks.
The EPC team didn’t play perfect basketball on the weekend, but every time they faltered, they eventually turned things around and came out ahead.
Hicks cited one example where the team was having trouble shooting from the free throw line. But instead of getting down on themselves as they might have earlier in the season, they redoubled their efforts and found success.
“They’ve come a long way this year and shown a lot of mental toughness to pull through and overcome all the misses we were making,” he said.
The team finished third in the zone last year. Now they will head to provincials this week in Camrose.
“I think they’re pretty excited,” said the coach.
A number of the girls on this year’s team were there last year when high expectations didn’t pan out and they lost in the zone semi-final. The memory of that disappointment no doubt played a part in this team’s refusal to give up last weekend, first when they started slow against a beatable Barrhead team and again when they fell behind against powerful Morinville in the final.
They also exorcised the ghost of last year’s semi-final loss with a convincing 20-point win over Drayton Valley in this year’s semi.
The success of the girls can be attributed to their work ethic, according to their coach.
“They put in a ton of time in the off season and worked really hard to get where they’re at. They’re pretty excited to go on to the next level,” said Hicks.
“We’ll go in, try to put our best foot forward and see what happens.”
Regardless of the outcome of provincials, the girls have already made their town and school proud with an 18-win season.
