St. Mary School hosted the Alberta School Athletic Association North Central Zone 1A Finals March 9-10 at the Rotary Spirit Centre, with the boys sinking their teeth in bronze and the girls netting fifth.
The bronze medal 62-61 win over Holy Trinity High School is one for the head coach Darcy Romanuik won’t ever forget.
“I don’t you’d ever seen a finish like in that third game,” he said. “We head the game well in hand, then they had a 17-point run and all of sudden we were down 51-38 to start the fourth quarter,” he recalled.
“Things were not looking good, but we clawed back. We’re tied at 60-all with six seconds left in the game. They call a time out. They go down to our net and we foul them. They go to the line and score and we’re down 61-60 with 3.6 seconds left. We inbound the ball — one of my Grade 12s picks up the ball from well in our backcourt. He gets fouled and we go to the line with 0.8 seconds left.
“He has three throws, misses his first but gets the next two, so we’re up 62-61.
“They throw the ball down, their players put the ball up but it didn’t go in. It wasn’t over until the clock literally ran out.”
To take the bronze, the boys beat the Christian Covenant Reform School Stingers 69-54 before hitting a wall against Gerard Redmond High School, who defeated the Sharks 76-52.
Romanuik praised his team’s can-do attitude and their strength of character in the face of adversity.
“I’m so proud of the guys,” he said. “It was an amazing finish. That’s what’s so great about high school sport. You have evenly matched teams and it was an entertainment that was second to none.”
Across the court, the girls had a strong showing early downing the Breton Cougars 59-42 before falling to the top-ranked Grand Trunk High School 65-29 in the semifinal.
Girls head coach Glenn Schwarz said that missing out on the chance to go to provincials hit the girls hard, but they regrouped for their bronze-medal match against New Sarepta, which ended in a 57-42 defeat.
“It was a tougher weekend,” he said. “Our defence was very good, but we couldn’t make our shots. The first half we came out strong, but we were really tired. They had a good effort and a good season. They progressed lots and hopefully we can build on that in the future.”
With the season over, players are moving on to other sports, but the future looks bright for St. Mary basketball. The boys will lose only two players to graduation, while the girls bid farewell to four.
Overall, Romanuik said the zone tournament went as expected, with the top-tiered teams facing off in the final. Breton won the boys gold, while Grand Trunk took the girls zone banner.
Both coaches also expressed their thanks to fans for the strong support over the year.
“It’s exciting. The new players got a taste of what high school basketball is all about,” said Romanuik.
“I’m looking forward to next year already.”
