EPC’s senior girls basketball team started off their season on the right foot, winning three-straight games to claim the Lillian Osborne Senior Basketball Classic title in Edmonton.
“It’s always nice to get out and get that first tournament underneath your belt,” said Predators head coach Wade Hicks.
“I told the girls one of the hardest things to do is learning how to win three-straight games in a tournament. There’s a lot of teams that will have two good games and then falter in the third.
“It’s tough to learn how to win three games and if we can start getting that experience early, it’s going to be a huge benefit by the time we get to the end of the season.”
The girls had a slow start in their first game against Louis St. Laurent Catholic School and struggled in the opening quarter playing against an unfamiliar defensive unit. Trailing St. Laurent by 12, the Predators managed to get their game rolling, eventually taking a 15 point lead. The Predators were unable to keep up that pace, however, but still beat St. Laurent 49-44.
“We kind of went into cruise control near the end,” he said. “I told the girls before the game to expect this game to be ugly and that we might not perform as well as we should. It is the first game and the first game of the year is always ugly.”
The girls faced the home team Lillian Osborne in the semifinal, a 4A team. The game wasn’t much different then their first as the girls had yet another slow start and trailed by eight points in the first half. They did rally back, though, to take the game 44-37.
“We were just battling again, trying to figure out our offence, trying to knock down some shots and eventually they started to fall,” he said. “We came back and got up on them by about 15. Then, we seemed to go back into cruise control and never put them away like we should have.”
Everything seemed to change when the team faced off against Austin O’Brien High School, getting their offence down and picking up their defensive play. The Predators rolled over AOB 63-37 to claim the tournament title.
“When we hit the final, they figured out how to keep a team down,” said Hicks. “Once they got up, they didn’t let off. The best part about it was their defence and that’s where they went into cruise control the other games. It’s the worst place to do that, because then you’re just trading baskets with the team and in that final game their defence was great. They were jumping on passes, boxing out, rebounding, and getting out on the fast breaks.”
After only having four practices, Hicks has a lot more to work on with his team. After adding in some more offense plays and defensive positioning, he knows his team will be tough to beat when they’re in tiptop shape.
“It’s just a matter of putting some more stuff in and fine tuning our game as the season goes on,’” he said. “I know we’ll be a tough team to play against.”
