Penhold's Skyhawks junior high basketball teams opened their inaugural seasons with victories on Dec. 16 against the Innisfail Mustangs.
Coach Lisa Baird's junior high girls team squeaked by the local Mustangs 28-26 after being down 22-12 earlier at the end of the third quarter, while the boys team coached by Ian Tisdale downed the grade 7 and 8 Innisfail Mustangs team 48-29.
“I am very proud of the girls in their first game as Skyhawks,” said a jubilant Baird who preached strong defence to the team from the sidelines. “We were down 14-10 after the second quarter but we started to play good defence and the game turned around.”
In a see-saw game that included a spontaneous “Let's go Skyhawks” from the Penhold bench, broken plays and missed opportunities by both teams, the Penhold team showed first game jitters, which soon gave way to a thrilling end-to-end battle.
Innisfail's Destiny Plamondon (Grade 7) and Brooke Dyck (Grade 8) paced the home team with solid aggressive play on both sides of the court. The Grade 8 student's speed took Penhold by surprise and potential breakaways were broken up by stolen balls and converted to points on the board.
“For a first-year player, Destiny understands her role on the team and plays well,” said Mustangs coach Tina Chadwick. “She is aggressive and will be an impact player when she is on the court.”
Going into the third quarter, the Skyhawks took control of the game and never looked back, with the new team digging deep and holding the Mustangs pointless until they tied it up at 22-22 with five minutes left in the contest.
With one minute left, number 13 scored to make the game 28-26. The Skyhawks held the Mustangs pointless as the final minutes saw end-to-end action and cemented their first victory in the Skyhawks girls history.
Meanwhile, the Skyhawks boys under the coaching of Ian Tisdale took on Mike Walsh's middle school Mustangs with what became a solid victory by the visiting team.
Right off the jump ball, Penhold's Nathan Joseph scored their first basket of the game and set the tone for his outstanding performance in the 48-29 win.
The Skyhawks led 8-0 before the Mustangs hit the scoreboard and worked their way to an 8-7 deficit before the first buzzer with good team play.
Both teams had trouble with ball control with the exception of Joseph who dominated with mature playmaking and passing. The half ended with a 20-11 Skyhawk lead.
With the victories, Penhold's teams now have a 2-win and 2-loss record for the school.
Penhold Crossing Secondary School athletic director Richard Kidd is pleased with the Skyhawks' inaugural sports season.
“With the first year of the school, and consequently our first year competing in volleyball and now basketball, our teams have done well,” said Kidd of the enthusiasm of his athletes. “While our senior high boys and girls did not win, their performance on court last week was awesome.”
The director noted that not one of the senior girls players had previous experience competitively, and that only one or two boys whom Kidd had coached when he was at River Glen School has court experience.
