St. Mary School has beaten cross-town rivals, the R.F. Staples junior varsity basketball team 57-38.
The teams met in the consolation final of the Cathy Mitchell Memorial Cup tournament held at the Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre Feb. 21.
The Sharks took a commanding lead early and never looked back, despite some mini comebacks by the T-Birds in the second and forth quarters.
“This was probably our best weekend that we’ve had in terms of victories,” said Peter Molesky, coach of the Sharks.
Co-captain for the Sharks, Kellie Calladine, was a stand out as she controlled play in all areas of the court and showed real leadership as well as picking up 15 points for the game, including three threes, said Molesky.
“The is a very good leader and has a great arm for passing. She keeps her head when we were having issues,” Molesky said.
It didn’t all go St. Mary’s way though, as the T-Birds showed a lot of poise for a junior varsity squad.
“They were working really hard,” said Debbie Gregoire coach of R.F. Staples junior varsity team. “They had some ups and downs but in the end they were working tough and playing hard.
“They are a good group of girls, they work really hard at practice, they stay focused and they are just determined to improve their basketball skills.”
Molesky also acknowledged that the R.F. Staples team was much improved this year.
“We played them early in the season and they were disorganized,” he said.
“They are now a much better team than they were at that time. I was very impressed with the way they played.”
The route to the final for the Sharks was a mixed affair. They lost their first game of the competition 32-64 to J. R. Robson School from Vermilion.
Yet the loss didn’t get them down and came back to beat Gerard Redmond Community Catholic School from Hinton 38-19 in the second game.
“I thought we played well in our second game, but in our first game I thought we were a little asleep,” Molesky said.
Likewise the T-Birds had a bumpy road to the final. They were beaten convincingly 22-60 by Millwoods Christian School.
Again, just like the Sharks, they didn’t let the loss get them down and came back on court to thump Boyle 58-36.
