The skill level of Alberta high school girls basketball was on full display in Okotoks over the weekend.
The Foothills Falcons' Sheep River Shoot-Out featured five of the top 10 4A teams in the province, the other three being honourable mentions, with the home team corralling a fourth place finish at the Jan. 10-11 tournament.
Foothills, the No. 6 ranked team at the 4A level, came out firing at the Shoot-Out in delivering a 83-63 triumph over Calgary's St. Francis Browns in the tournament icebreaker. In the semifinal, the Cardston Cougars rallied to defeat Foothills 66-65 in a nailbiter to close day one of the competition.
The Falcons played the No. 7 ranked Western Canada Redhawks and took a 74-61 defeat in a physical contest with a couple of key players out of the lineup.
Centennial, the top-ranked team at the tournament at No. 2 in the province, won the gold medal with Cardston claiming silver.
The Sheep River Shoot-Out marked Foothills' first game action since the Cougar Classic tournament in mid-December where the Falcons took the bronze medal. Foothills won a pair of silver medals at tournaments at. St. FX and Medicine Hat to start the season.
