The R.F. Staples T-Birds senior girls basketball team won their first tournament title of the year in Camrose Jan. 13-14 posting a come-from-behind win over Bawlf.
The senior boys team also made a splash in at a separate tournament at Mill Woods Christian school in Edmonton Jan 12-14.
“This tournament is not one that I think we’ve traditionally participated in,” said girls head coach Pierre Ouimet.
“I think that’s the first time in a couple of years where the girls have come out on the ‘A’ side of the tournament and won. It was really exciting.”
Ouimet credited his team’s defence for their victory.
“They also had good communication on the floor,” he added.
“Those two things were key.”
The girls started out with a 58-38 win over Sedgewick on Jan. 13. They followed that with a 61-29 victory against a team from Red Deer.
“They are definitely a smaller school. They weren’t a very developed program,” noted Ouimet.
“We got off on a good early start in that one.”
The two wins put the girls in the final against Bawlf, where they got a good run for their money.
“They had a very, very strong team,” said Ouimet.
“We actually were down early. They were up 16-2 early going, then we got it back to 18-16, then they went on another run in the second half and we were down by 14 points in fourth quarter.
“Then we ended up beating them 58-57. It was 52-38 with nine minutes left to go in the game. It came right down to the very end, so it was very exciting for the girls to win.
“It was a pretty good growth weekend for our girls,” he added.
Meanwhile, in Edmonton, the boys team battled hard and took the consolation championship; losing their first bout but rebounding with two decisive victories.
“We played very well as a team,” said boys head coach Ken Williston.
“We played as a complete unit. We did our systems well.”
He noted that he wanted to work on his drills and systems to get his team ready for their next battle.
Both teams are now resting up and focusing on their exams for the next week before the season goes into high gear in February.
“We have a couple weeks of practice, then a couple of league games,” said Williston.
Ouimet said he was planning to work on his team’s systems over the lull between tournaments.
“We don’t have much going on now for exam week, our next big tournament is the first week of February in Morinville,” said Ouimet.
“What we need to work on now is flat-out shooters. That is what will make us successful going forward.”
