Magrath, Raymond 4A zone champs
COMETS WIN GIRLS’ TITLE WHILE ZENITHS CAPTURE BOYS’ CROWN
If there was ever a good time to have a small blip on the radar, the Raymond Comets girls basketball team may have found it. The Comets downed the Magrath Pandas 70-54 in the 4A South Zone basketball playoffs gold medal game Saturday at the 1st Choice Savings Centre to fly this year’s south banner.
However, a small, late-season lull heading this week’s zones may have ultimately been what the doctor ordered for the top-seeded Comets, who went 11-3 in the regular season.
Apparently, the wakeup call came just in time as the Comets head to Medicine Hat for provincials next weekend as South Zone gold medallists.
“We had a little blip in the last couple of weeks,” said Comets head coach Robert Baker, whose team will be joined by the Pandas and the bronze medal-winning LCI Clippers in Medicine Hat. “We dropped a couple of games and it was good for us. It helped them to wake up and realize it wasn’t just a freebie, they’d have to work for this. They’ve worked really hard.”
In the boys gold medal game, the Magrath Zeniths will fly the 2018 South flag following a 79-63 over the LCI Rams in front of a crowd of 2,250 at the U of L.
“It’s a great group of boys, that’s for sure,” said Zeniths head coach Danny Balderson whose team finished tied for first in the regular season with the Cardston Cougars at 13-1. ”This was our goal for the entire year and it couldn’t be sweeter.”
In the girls gold medal game, the Comets held a 19-14 lead after the first quarter and struck for 24 in the second quarter for a 43-18 lead at the half.
That offensive outburst, however, started on the other side of the ball.
“They’re a really good shooting team, we knew that,” said Baker. “So we worked for two weeks on defence, what were we going to do to stop them? I just praise my kids. They bought into what we asked them to do. They played their guts out, they did what we asked them to do on the defensive end. The offence comes if you play good defence. So that’s what we wanted to do.”
Kansas Long led the Comets with 25 points.
“We just wanted it so bad from the start,” said Long. “Coming into the tournament, we had a while where we didn’t win. So we really wanted to prove ourselves.
“It (lull) was so important. You can’t win every game. You have to work for it.”
Halli Baker added 15 points for Raymond and Ivy Jensen scored 11.
Lucy Wilde topped the Pandas with 18 points and Adi Strong added 16.
Neither of the finalists are done yet as they get set to Medicine Hat.
“We move onto the next one and have fun with the next one,” said Baker. “We’ve participated in some tournaments this year, we’ve played against the top teams in the province. We’ve beat them, they’ve beat us. I think we’re going to have some fun and see where it goes.”
“I’ve coached six of them, the ones who are graduating, for five years,” added Baker. “So it’s been a really fun ride. We’ve had a really good experience for several years. They’re kids who have a passion for basketball. They’ve worked really hard to hone their skills and mostly work together. Today, one of my leading scorers hardly scored, yet the other kids picked up the slack and made it happen. That’s kind of what we’ve been for five or six years.”
In the boys gold medal game, going on the defensive proved as beneficial for the Zeniths as it did for the Comets girls.
“LCI is a great team that can hurt you in a lot of different ways,” said Balderson. “I think the difference was our defence and our ability to slow them down a little bit, both on the perimeter and inside. We were able to make it difficult for their shots.”
The Zeniths and Rams as well as the Cardston Cougars, who defeated the Raymond Comets 95-64 in the bronze medal game, head to Medicine Hat next weekend in search of a provincial medal.
“We’ll let this sink in because every year our goal is to win the zone championship,” said Balderson. “On Monday morning we’re going to reset a new goal, and that’s to win a provincial
championship and with this group, it’s definitely possible. There are some excellent teams from around the province and teams from down here that all have a shot. I think if we put it together and do our best anything is possible in Medicine Hat.”
But on Saturday night, it was all about winning the south in front of a loud and packed 1st Choice Savings Centre crowd of 2,250.
“It means everything to them,” said Balderson. “They grew up in Magrath dreaming about playing for the Zeniths. They grow up dreaming about being on a big stage like a zone final game and playing in front of the town. Honestly, it means everything.”
Five Zeniths played topped the 10-point mark, led by Sam Payne with 18 and Mason Stock with 17. Taylor Cook added 15,
Paycen Blackmore had 14 and Austin Wocknitz put up 13.
For the Rams, John Evans led with 14 points and Isaiah Bagnah and Brandon Laycock each had 10.
The Clippers captured the South Zone bronze medal with a close win over the Cardston Cougars.
Playing in the first game of the day Saturday, the Clippers topped the Cougars 69-65 to capture third and a provincials berth.
The Clippers, who went 11-3 in the regular season, were led by Berkley Heggie’s 17-point game. Krista Nelson added 15 points and Avery Edwards and Jocelyn Neilson each scored 12.
For Cardston, Haylie Holland led with 19 points and Madison Barfuss scored 18. Hanna Nunn chipped in with 11.
In the boys bronze medal game, Cardston opened with 30 points in the first quarter on their way to a 95-64 win over the Comets.
Adyn Card led the Cougars with 23 points and Ty Lewis chipped in with 19. Also hitting double digits for Cardston was Tristan Infanti with 12 points and Jayce Nelson with 10.
Parker Graves replied with 17 points for the Comets while Jeter Heggie scored 11 and Garrett Hasegawa and Drake Still added 10 each.
The junior varsity championship games were also held Saturday.
In the boys gold medal game, the Cardston Wildcats downed the LCI Rams 97-91, while the Clippers JV girls earned gold with a 61-35 decision over the Wildcats.
See Monday’s Herald for the wrapup.