Both St. Mary Sharks boys and girls basketball teams were in action Feb. 16-17, participating in the Pastor Charlton Invitational Tournament hosted by New Sarepta Community High School where they both finished with two wins and one loss.
Because of the order they won their games in, the boys took second place, once again, while the girls won the consolation final, finishing fourth out of eight teams.
Boys coach Darcy Romaniuk said he has noticed a very consistent pattern in his team this year — they get two wins for every loss. They’ve managed to earn berths in the finals of four of the five tournaments they’ve played in this year, only to lose the last game each time.
“We win the games we’re supposed to win but can’t get the wins against the more difficult teams,” said Romaniuk.
The Sharks easily defeated their opponents in the first two games of the tournament beating up on the team from Gus Wetter School in Castor, winning 65-31. Then St. Mary took their winning ways into the second game against Koinonia Christian School from Red Deer and defeated them handily as well, 68-35.
True to form, in the final, the Sharks played hard against their rivals from Hay Lakes School, but struggled out of the gate, losing 76-38, said Romaniuk.
“They have some quick, athletic players and we just couldn’t keep up,” he said.
The girls team also finished with a 2-1 record but were bumped into the consolation bracket, which they won, because they lost their first game.
“The girls played a very good tournament again…. We just couldn’t get the shots we needed to on the offensive end, but the last two games they shot great,” said coach Glenn Schwarz. “They played great defense and the offense really came around in the last two games.”
The Sharks lost their opening match to the host New Sarepta team, losing by three baskets, 47-41, and putting them into the consolation bracket.
The Sharks really turned it around in the second and third game of the tourney though beating Tofield 64-25 and Gus Wetter from Castor 64-35 to win the consolation prize.
“They decided that instead of trying to go through everybody one-on-one, they decided to play as a team and pass the ball. It was one of the best passing games I’ve seen them have all year,” said Schwarz.
The Sharks will be a busy couple of teams in the next few weeks as the girls are hosting the Kathy Mitchell Tourney at the Rotary Spirit Centre Feb. 23-24 and both teams are hosting zones March 9-10.
