The St. Mary School’s senior boys basketball team will play for a provincial championship this coming weekend, while the girls just missed the medal podium at North Central Zone 1A playdowns.
The Sharks will move on to 1A provincial championship March 17-19 in Pincher Creek after netting silver in the North Central Zone playdowns in Slave Lake March 12.
Though the Sharks fell 68-31 to Evansburg’s Grand Trunk High School in the final, they came out on top in their first two matchups, 69-48 against Breton in prelims and 89-79 against Spruce Grove’s Living Waters Christian Academy.
Coach Darcy Romanuik said the boys came into the games prepped and ready.
“Our ultimate goal was making provincial and we did that,” Romanuik said. “The kids were at such an emotional level, it’s one of those times where they have their goals and are happy and that’s it.”
The boys went into the games seeded second and handily defeated Breton in their first match.
“We were a little nervous in that game. We hadn’t played them all year and they had some impressive scores. We scouted them and they presented a very good challenge,” he said.
“We had a good start. They were big and moved the ball quick. They did a lot of the things well that we do well.”
The boys “played cat and mouse” through the first but pulled away in the third quarter to lead 69-48 at the closing buzzer.
The win put them up against Living Waters in the semifinals in a game that ended in a 89-79 win for St. Mary putting them in the gold medal game.
“Both teams like to run transitions and execute on offence,” Romanuik said of the impressive score sheet.
“We sank a lot of three pointers. We were sinking threes and they were sinking twos. That was the difference. They were bigger but we were shooting bigger.”
The Sharks spent the final game waiting Grand Trunk out, taking a 68-31 beating, but with a ticket to provincials secured, the boys left Slake Lake content and ready for the next step.
“It was a successful weekend,” Romanuik said. “We had a plan. We did it and turned the page on that final game. Now we move forward and get ready for the big show.”
It was the end of the season for the St. Mary girls following a fourth place finish at North Central Zone playdowns in Evansburg March 12.
The girls went in shorthanded with only six players and lost to Breton 44-34 in the first game, but managed to pull out a 55-22 win against Gerard Redmond Catholic School in the second game, losing 59-31 to Thorsby in the bronze medal game.
Coach Peter Molesky said he was pleased with the girls’ performance, both at the tournament and over the course of the year.
“We’ve come a long way and the girls were playing that much better,” Molesky said.
“We’re not disappointed as much as anticipating what can happen next year.”
Molesky credited player Eme Artemenko who recorded in 22 points in the Sharks 55-22 win against Gerard Redmond.
“It was very tight and we got into foul trouble. Two of our players fouled out, three of them with four fouls, but the girls got stronger as the game went on,” Molesky said.
The short bench weighed on the Sharks moving through the day, and injuries cut things shorter, but Molesky acknowledged the end of season opens things up for the girls next year.
“All of them will have another chance and from the looks of the teams that we’re playing, most of them are going to lose more girls towards graduation, so next year is looking really good,” Molesky said.
