Eagles scrap their way to provincial silver
The Immanuel Christian Eagles girls basketball team was handed a 30-point loss in the provincial final.
The Eagles were defeated 7545 by La Crete Public School in the gold medal game of the Alberta Schools Athletic Association 2A girls provincials Saturday night at Kainai High School.
Still, while the scoreboard indicated a 30-point difference as the final minutes ticked away, on the court the Eagles kept playing as if they had a two-point lead.
Saturday’s battle-to-thebuzzer mentality didn’t go unnoticed, either.
“One of the things I’m particularily proud of from our girls is in the third and fourth quarter, we knew we were going to lose the game, but we didn’t stop fighting,” said Eagles head coach Scott Forster, whose team played La Crete in last year’s provincial final, winning the gold medal and ending La Crete’s undefeated season. “You hear ‘I think our team fought hard today,’ but we literally fought until the whistle blew. It was like it was a two-point game. I think the La Crete coaches appreciated the fact we weren’t going to roll over. We’re trying to send a little bit of a statement to them because we see them so often and next year they’re hosting provincials up in La Crete. So we hope to have a chance to win the banner back.”
The Eagles will have the chance to do that with pretty much the same roster that was in Cochrane last weekend.
“None of our starters graduate, they’re all in Grade 10 and 11,” said Forster. “So we’ll have a strong crew returning and we’re actually going to have some girls that are in Grade 9 this year that can join us next year. So we’ll have some Grade 10 kids that will play senior as well and we’ll be a strong team again next year.”
The gold medal eluded them this year, but it was still another provincial medal that has become the norm for the Eagles program.
In the last dozen years, the Eagles senior varsity girls teams have played in the 2A girls final nine times, winning six gold medals and three silver.
They’ve also won a bronze medal and a consolation trophy during that time.
Like other basketball programs in southern Alberta, a provincial medal is expected on the Eagles teams.
“I think it’s the same thing Raymond, Magrath or Cardston has,” said Forster. “It’s just what you do. If you put a basketball team on the floor at Immanuel and the coach didn’t take it seriously and the kids didn’t take it seriously, that just wouldn’t be acceptable to the community as a whole. In Raymond, that just doesn’t happen and I think it’s the same at Immanuel. We care about it there and we have a basketball school and we take it seriously. After you win a few it’s human nature, you feel the need to maintain that. It’s a pride thing.”
The medal was one of six for the South Zone last weekend.
The Stirling Lakers girls downed the Foremost Forettes 74-71 in the 1A gold medal game in Lacombe, while the Claresholm Willow Creek Cobras boys team got it done at home, winning the 2A gold medal with an 86-80 win over the Edmonton Millwoods Christian Royals.
The Taber W.R. Myers Rebels girls won the 3A gold medal in Cochrane with a 63-53 over Spruce Grove St. Peter the Apostle, while the Magrath Zeniths added the other South Zone medal, earning the bronze at the 4A provincials in Medicine Hat courtesy a 57-48 win over the Cardston Cougars.
Also at the 4A provincials, the LCI Rams were defeated 87-78 by Calgary Sir Winston Churchill in the seventh place game.
The Medicine Hat Mohawks lost 82-62 to LCI in the seventh place semifinal Friday night.
On the girls side, the Raymond Comets topped the LCI Clippers 43-28 in the seventh place game.
The Clippers defeated the Magrath Pandas 74-70 during the seventh place semifinal Friday night.
After losing 63-43 to Edmonton Jasper Place Thursday, the Medicine Hat Kwahommies beat Chestemere High 61-49 Friday morning, but lost 83-57 to St. Albert Paul Kane High Friday afternoon.
In other 2A boys play in Claresholm, Immanuel Christian defeated fellow South Zone team Kainai Warriors 8676 Saturday morning to advance to the consolation game and completed the weekend with another win, downing Webber Academy 8770 to take fifth place.
At the 2A girls provincials at Kainai High School, the host Lady Warriors were defeated 67-46 by Peace River Glenmary School in the consolation semifinal Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, the Coaldale Kate Andrews Pride took ninth place with a 56-42 win over J.C. Charyk Hanna Saturday afternoon.
In the 1A boys provincials in Lacombe, the Stirling Lakers lost 82-69 to Lacombe Central Alberta Christian in the bronze medal game to settle for fourth.
Nanton J.T. Foster was defeated 83-38 by Calgary Ecole la Rose Sauvage in the consolation final to take sixth place.
Earlier Saturday, J.T. Foster beat Breton High 97-94.
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