A fairy tale come-from-behind win in their first game of the annual Spartan Classic hoops tournament propelled the host Olds High School senior girls basketball squad to a runner-up finish.
First-place honours in the 16-team tournament, which was held at the Ralph Klein Centre on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, went to Edmonton's Holy Trinity Trojans in the boys bracket and the Strathmore High School Spartans in the girls bracket.
The Spartan girls' first opponents were the Innisfail High School Cyclones on the afternoon of Jan. 31 and the Cyclones' tough defence only allowed the Olds squad 13 points in the first half of the game, compared to Innisfail's 23.
In the second half, however, Olds relentlessly chipped away at the Cyclones' lead until just under the three-minute mark in the fourth quarter when, on a pair of free throws, Shaelyn Moritz first tied the game and then gave the Spartans the lead.
When the buzzer sounded at the end of regulation time, the score was 49-49 and in the extra frame, the Spartans jumped out to an early 55-50 lead.
With three minutes left, Olds was up 59-54, but Innisfail would not let the Spartans' lead extend beyond five points.
In the last minute of play, with the score 63-59 for Olds, Innisfail launched a full-court press.
Innisfail's Shaelynn Houchin made one free throw after being fouled following an Olds turnover and then gave the Cyclones another two points with 10 seconds left in the overtime period to bring Innisfail within one point of Olds.
But Spartan Caitlyn Howard was fouled in the dying seconds of the quarter and Innisfail never regained possession, leading to a 63-62 win for Olds.
The squad's next challenger was the George McDougall High School Mustangs out of Airdrie on Feb. 1.
The Mustangs drew first blood two minutes into the opening quarter and were up 11-10 going into the second.
Olds' Janelle Graham began a spree of steals in the second quarter, however, and the Spartans managed to reach halftime with a 20-17 lead.
The Spartans ended the third quarter with a 36-28 advantage and finished the Mustangs off 52-41 with Nicole Schultz leading Olds in scoring for the game with 10 points.
The win set the girls up for a championship game showdown with the Strathmore Spartans that evening and with Olds struggling with turnovers in the first period, the more aggressive Strathmore team was able to pull ahead, thanks in part to Karly Larson's trio of three-pointers in the first quarter.
Down 18-7 after the first 10 minutes, Olds' troubles continued as they turned over the ball frequently on bad passes.
Strathmore finished off the first half up 25-16 and was ahead by 21 points after three quarters.
In the end, Strathmore captured the championship with a 59-29 victory over Olds and three Strathmore playersóIris Geldenhuys, Sybil Bain and Erin Warrackóall had 12 points in the match.
Kent Lorenz, head coach of the Olds girls team, said the runner-up finish was the cap on a ìsuccessful weekendî for his squad.
ìOur goal was to make it to the final, which we did,î he said, adding Strathmore was ìprobably the best team we've played all year.î
One of the big problems during the championship game, Lorenz said, was the girls were ìnot quite used to the back pressure from the guardsî on the Strathmore team.
ìJust the intensity that they played with the entire game, it's something new that we haven't faced for most of the season. So we chalk it up to a learning experience.î
When the Spartans practise this week, he added, they'll be working on their press break and passing.
In the boys championship game between the Trojans and the Holy Trinity Knights from Okotoks, the Knights held the lead until the dying minutes of the game with a 31-26 advantage at the half and a 49-44 lead at the end of the third quarter.
But with three minutes left in the game, the Trojans took the lead for the first time.
With one minute until the buzzer and the Trojans up 59-56, the Knights had one last possession to keep their championship hopes alive.
Jared Helinsky let the ball slip through his fingers on a pass with 14 seconds left, however, and the Knights' chance to tie the game was dashed.
The Trojans, led by top scorer Malik Mate, earned one more basket and took the game, and the championship, with a final score of 61-56.
As for the Spartans boys, the squad opened the tournament on Jan. 31 with a convincing 84-42 blowout over the Innisfail Cyclones.
Olds' defence was firing on all cylinders in the first half and the squad had finished the opening quarter with a 28-2 lead.
The Spartans were not able to keep the momentum in their favour as they fell in their follow-up game on the morning of Feb. 1 against the Knights by a score of 77-61.
With a shot at a third-place finish, the boys faced off against the George McDougall Mustangs that evening and started the game strong, with the Spartans' formidable defence keeping Airdrie's star player, Ryan Morckóa guard standing six-foot-nineó at bay for most of the first half.
Thanks to a strong performance from Josh Sears, especially from three-point territory, Olds finished the first quarter with a 12-9 lead.
Although the Spartans were ahead by six points in the second quarter, the Mustangs whittled away Olds' advantage and took the lead with two minutes left in the half.
Olds' Mark Flinn nailed a three-point basket to make the game 27-27 and it looked as if the teams would go the half tied, but the Mustangs earned a late basket to go up 29-27.
From there, as Morck began to punish the Spartans in the paint and from the three-point arch, a tired Spartans team quickly fell behind and faced a 53-42 deficit at the end of three quarters.
The Mustangs ended the game with a 78-67 victory and third-place honours and Morck took home a score sheet that indicated he had nailed 40 points in the competition.
ìHe just started finding his rhythm and we didn't make good adjustments. And before we knew it he hit two or three threes and he ended up with 40 points,î said Olds' head coach, Tom Christensen, after the game. ìHe scored more than half their team's points. I think if we played them again we'd have to make some adjustments to the defence with that and make the other guys on their team try and beat us.î
He added the boys had played a tough game in the semifinals against Okotoks and did a good job of not letting fatigue weigh them down in the final game.
ìI'm really proud of the guys. I think they are a team up and rising.î
