Kate Andrews Festival begins

The 20th annual Kate Andrews Christmas Basketball Festival took the court at Coaldale Kate Andrews and R.I. Baker Schools.

On the girls side, the host Kate Andrews Pride started the tournament on a winning note, defeating Coalhurst 78-47 in their first game.

Summer Nordin led the Pride with 16 points and Victoria Reed had 15. Megan Hrenchuk paced Coalhurst with 26 points.

The Taber W.R. Myers started with a 74-53 win over the Picture Butte Sugar Queens.

Kitawana Sparks led the Rebels with 12 points, while Alex Haller and Reagan Bailey each had 11. Sophie Simek added 10 points for Taber.

For the Sugar Queens, Tasha Reiter scored 26 points.

The game between the Winston Churchill Griffins and Vauxhall went to overtime before the Griffins squeaked out a 31-30 win.

Hailey Mueller and Hannah Vanderulst each had eight points for Winston Churchill and Jordan Bell replied with 10 for Vauxhall.

In the final girls game Thursday, the Immanuel Christian Eagles downed the Pincher Creek St. Michaels Dragons.

Brittney Vande Munt led the Eagles with 30 points, while teammates Kathryn Linker and Bianca Ringelberg had 14 and 10 points, respectively. Natalie Krizan had 14 points for the Dragons. In boys action Thursday, the Pride downed Coalhurst 88-27 as Zac Milligan led the way with 24 points. Parker Kasko hit for 19 points and Darren Larson and Chris Kluss had 10 each. Josh Peck had 14 points for Coalhurst. The Immanuel Christian Eagles posted a close 70-67 win over the Vauxhall Vikings.

Ryan Degner had 25 points for Immanuel Christian and Steven Veldman added 15.

Johnny Vulcano and Liam Vulcano had 26 and 11 points, respectively, for Vauxhall.

The Cardston Cougars junior varsity team kicked off the tourney with a win Thursday afternoon, downing Brooks St. Joes 100-63.

Leading Cardston was Mike Olsen with 20 points, while Dennon Jensen had 20.

Also hitting double digits for the Cougars was Mitch Olsen with 17 points and Isaac Atwood with 16. J.P. Comensario had 16 points for Brooks. In the last boys game Thursday, the Taber W.R. Myers Rebels downed the Lundbreck Livingstone Sabres 72-54.

Denzel Gross had 19 points for the Rebels and Elisha Lowry had 13 for the Sabres. Action continues today with the playoff rounds. In the girls draw, Vauxhall plays Coalhurst at 1 p.m. at R.I. Baker and at 2:15 p.m. at Kate Andrews Immanuel Christian takes on W.R. Myers.

St. Michael’s faces Picture Butte at 2:45 p.m. at R.I. Baker. Winston Churchill and Kate Andrews wrap up the day at 5:45 p.m. at Kate Andrews.

On the boys side, Brooks takes on Coalhurst at 12:30 p.m. at Kate Andrews, followed by W.R. Myers facing Immanuel Christian at 4 p.m., also at Kate Andrews.

At 4:30 p.m. at R.I. Baker Livingstone plays Vauxhall and at 7:30 p.m. at Kate Andrews, the junior varsity Cougars take on the host Pride.