A fourth consecutive zone championship has the Foothills Falcons in the sweet 16.
Foothills edged the Holy Trinity Academy Knights 59-53 in a nailbiter 4A South Central Zone senior girls basketball gold medal game on Friday night to bring home the banner and advance to the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association provincial playoffs.
“It’s awesome,” said Falcons head coach Montana Romeril. “This is what’s expected and it’s great that we were able to do that and moving forward, we’re going to be top four in the province.
“This was goal number one and goal number two, we want to make it to (final four) in Calgary two weeks from now.”
Foothills is set to host the South Central regionals next week, the first round of the playoffs, which will be a single elimination four-team competition with the winning squad advancing to the provincial championships featuring Alberta’s four regional champions.
HTA, who went on to claim the zone silver medal in a 76-26 win over Airdrie’s W.H. Croxford Cavaliers, will also advance to the provincial playoffs as the second berth out of the zone.
“They absolutely rallied well and we couldn’t be more proud of them, the way they came back from an emotional game,” said HTA coach Andrew Gustafson. “They left it all on the floor last night and after that, you wonder if they’re going to come out flat.
“And they didn’t, they proved that they belong at provincials.”
In the gold medal game, the Knights challenged the No. 4 ranked Falcons in a seesaw final.
HTA had a 53-52 lead in the final minute before Foothills countered with seven consecutive points in the final 35 seconds.
Falcons guard Laila Selk nailed a three-pointer and point guard Ella Simard hit four free throws down the stretch to see out the result in front of a packed house at Foothills.
“When Selk got that three, their whole attitude changed and Ella Simard really led the defence up at the top,” Romeril said. “We kept saying, one more possession, one more possession and they just relied on what we’ve been working on.
“(Selk), she’s known for her three point shooting, tonight wasn’t her greatest night shooting, but when it mattered most, she came through.”
Foothills won both regular season meetings by much larger margins, but with both teams cracking down on the defensive end, there was little room for offence and second chance opportunities.
“We knew what this game would be, that HTA was going to come out flying, we’ve played them twice,” Romeril said. “We just told them, you’ve been prepared for this moment and go out and execute and rely on what we’ve done all year.
“We just tell them to go work hard and when things aren’t falling, we rely on our defence. We tell them go get one more stop, it all comes out of your defence, the best offence is your defence.”
Gustafson said the Knights were able to limit the Falcons’ secondary scoring and handled the Foothills press better than in previous matchups.
“We came out hard, we scared them and I think we showed all of Okotoks that we’re ready to play,” Gustafson said. “And then to come out and beat a Croxford team that’s beat us the last two years and have a 50-point win, shows that we’re dialed in.”
HTA’s provincial berth is its first in senior girls basketball at the 4A level in school history.
“For us to qualify for provincials this year, whether we get there through a gold medal or silver medal doesn’t matter,” Gustafson added. “The berth is something that’s really special and we’re proud of our kids for making it happen.”
The Knights will be travelling to regionals, the location not yet determined, with host sites spread out the province.
“Our girls are excited to go and play,” Gustafson said. “They don’t care who we’re playing, we feel we can make some noise against anybody in the province right now.”
