Spartans host provincial championship

Times Reporter 

 

Some of the top high school female basketball players from Alberta will converge on Strathmore for the ASAA 2013 Basketball Provincials March 14-16 at the Strathmore High School.

The Strathmore Spartans girl’s team will host 11 of the top 3A schools in Alberta vying to become provincial champions.

Despite being the youngest team in the tournament, the Spartans are looking forward to playing the top schools in the province on their home court.

“I think we just have to keep our composure,” said Spartans head coach Dion Galandy. “It’s a young team and you can get rattled a little bit, so you just have to have a short memory and eliminate any ideas that you’re going to make a mistake and go play and have fun.

“(When we’re successful), we stay focused and we don’t worry about our mistakes, we just play. We don’t think too much, we just do it.”

According to Galandy, most of the girls on the team have grown up playing basketball together. Despite have no Grade 12 players on the roster and being a ‘smaller’ team, the Spartans make up for it in other areas.

“We have a little bit of a running game – we like to fast break,” said the coach. “We’re small – we have no height really, but we play big. We just have to play like we’re (taller) … we certainly have to be more physical.”

Leading up to the tournament, the girls are going back to basics in their preparation.

“We’re going back to our fundamentals again, working on our shooting and trying to play more as a team,” said forward Carter Jones. “Provincials is a chance to showcase ourselves. It’s basically going to come down to who makes the least mistakes. We need to keep our heads up and keep our confidence going.”

This will be the second time in 11 years that Strathmore hosted the Provincial Basketball Championship. However, according to committee member and athletic director at Strathmore High School, Kyle Larson, it is an honour.

“It’s rare when you get the opportunity to host and showcase the best talent at the 3A level across the province,” said Larson. “It’s exciting … it’s definitely a big deal for the school.” 

The Spartans will open the tournament when they face Morinville on March 14 (result not available as of press time). If they are successful, they will play McCoy on March 15 (11 a.m.), or if they lose, they will play at 3 p.m. For an up-to-date schedule of the tournament, visit www.asaa.ca and follow the links.