Strathmore Spartans play with heavy hearts

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

There were still games to be played, but basketball was the furthest thing from the minds of the players for both Strathmore High School Spartan senior teams.
Both the girls’ and boys’ teams were at separate tournaments this weekend physically, but emotionally they were still thinking about their former classmate Emma Armstrong.
Armstrong was involved in a motor vehicle collision last Jan. 8 just outside of Hussar.
Several members of the boys’ team attended the funeral Jan. 13 and missed their tournament in Beaumont. The girls’ team forfeited their game Jan. 13 in the Brooks Composite High School tournament to pay their respects.
“It was definitely tough to play on Friday,” said Spartans senior girls Head Coach Kyle Larson. “It was a tough week for many of our students. This was definitely a good opportunity for the kids to get out and run, work hard and not have to think about all the other stuff too much.”
Bowing out of the tournament opener, the Spartans fell 62-43 to the Highwood High School Mustangs Jan. 12.
It took a while for the Spartans to find their groove, as they only scored three points off a Kaylin Larson triple in the first quarter.
Battling out of an early hole and a referee unit that had the fouls 29-9 in favour of the Mustangs, the Spartans could only muster up 40 points in the final three quarters led by Allie Davidson’s 15 points.
Regrouping Sunday morning, the Spartans dropped a tight one to the Kate Andrews High School Pride.
Kaylin had a chance to tie it with a 3 at the buzzer, but found iron, as the Spartans lost 70-67.
Sydney Boyd dumped in a team-high 19, Davidson recorded 13 points, while Kaylin’s 11 and Jaidyn Eitzen’s 10 points rounded out Spartans in double figures.
The senior boys’ squad didn’t miss any games, but they played with more players from the junior varsity program than the senior program.
Pinned up against one of the powerhouse programs in the province, the young Spartans got a quick eye-opener to basketball at the senior level.
“H.J. Cody is basically all Grade 12s and we were pretty much all Grade 10s. They are a really big team,” said Spartans Head Coach Matt Laslo. “They won the opening tip, tipped it to one of their bigger players, he took two steps and dunked it. It was really their ‘welcome to senior ball’ moment.”
Like the girl’s team, they couldn’t take the lid off in the first quarter, only scoring two points.
After a quick chat during the first quarter break, the Spartans went on to score 54 points to close out the game, falling 97-56 to the H.J. Cody Lakers.
On the consolation side, the Spartans downed the John Maland High School Wildcats 76-59 in a bounce-back effort.
Dan Mulder, a Grade 10 student but a regular on the senior team, led the Spartans with 15 points, while Ryerson Rushford, a call-up from the JV team, chipped in with 10 points.
“Ryerson was great this weekend. He probably averaged nine points in the tournament and made some really nice passes. Boris (Kuljanin) was much of the same and dug in on defence, and Cole Russell played well late. He hit some big shots for us when the rest of our guys were in foul trouble,” said Laslo.
In the consolation final, the Spartans defeated the Crescent Heights High School Vikings 88-71.
Josh Filipionek led the way with a tourney-high 25 to earn consolation finals most valuable player. Mulder turned in a strong game with 22, as Kuljanin poured in 10 points.