Illness, injury and a wedding took their toll on the Senior Gryphons girls basketball players.
The team competed in the St. Peter the Apostle tournament in Spruce Grove over Dec. 14-15.
But with only seven fit players on Saturday, the Gryphons were unable to come home with a win.
In the first game against SPA (Spruce Grove), the Barrhead girls had a rough opening quarter and trailed 20-10.
“The girls played hard, but a lot of our shots were hitting the rim and not going in,” said coach Leahan Schaffrick.
She added two players were injured – Hannah Schuring rolled an ankle and Jory Bielert hurt a knee tendon. The injuries sidelined both girls for the rest of the tournament.
Unfortunately, the Gryphons were unable to close the gap on SPA and ended up losing 65-47.
Top scorer was Karissa Ternan (16 points), Avery Tarasiuk (6 points) and Derian Measures (6 points). Top rebounder was Krysta Schaffrick.
Next up were Lillian Osborne. With a depleted squad of just seven players and one post, the Gryphons faced a tough challenge.
Nevertheless, after the first quarter the girls were only down 16-15.
“The seven girls were seeing a lot of playing time,” said Schaffrick. “In the second and third quarters the game stayed close and the Barrhead girls were ahead at the end of each quarter. We lost some ground in the last two minutes of the final quarter and were unable to regain the lead.”
Lillian Osborne clinched victory 56-45. Top Gryphons scorers were Krysta Schaffrick (16 points) and Gina Schultz (10 points). Top rebounder was Jody Hassett. Tania Chilito led the team in steals.
The Gryphons’ final game was against Eastglen.
“We had seven very worn out players for this game, and again only one post,” said Schaffrick.
After falling behind 12-4 in the first quarter, the girls were unable to overcome the deficit and lost 37-23.
Schaffrick said the Gryphons had problems dealing with Eastglen’s #20, a tall and strong player, who scored most of her team’s points and got a lot of rebounds.
“With only one post we were not able to get too many rebounds,” she said.
Top scorers were Tania Chilito (9 points), who left the game suffering a concussion, and Avery Tarasiuk (7 points), Top rebounders were Krysta Schaffrick and Jody Hassett. Chilito led the team in steals.
Last Wednesday, the team played an alumni game. A donation to the food bank was the entry fee.
