Ryley Rebels edge Livingstone Sabres in 2012 ASAA 1A Girls Provincial Basketball Championship

Shelby York (Rebels) and Emma Lowry
 (Sabres) at the Provincials Tournament
C. Davis photo

C. Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

Ryley School's Senior Girls Rebels defeated the Livingstone School Sabres by two points to win the 2012 ASAA 1A Girls Provincial Basketball Championship. The final score in that game was 61-59 for the Rebels.

Livingstone School hosted the tournament at the Matthew Halton School gym over three days, from March 15 to March 17.  13 of the top 1A Girls teams from all over Alberta participated, and the gym was packed throughout.  The Worsely Wildcats travelled the farthest to participate, a journey of over 1000 km, about 13 hours one-way.



2012 ASAA 1A Girls Provincial Basketball Championship final standings:
Gold: Ryley Rebels
Silver: Livingstone Sabres
Bronze: Stirling Lakers

Sabe the Sabre with some Livingstone fans
C. Davis photo

Ryley Rebels fans
C. Davis photo

Ryley Rebels
The Ryley Rebels narrowly defeated the Acme Redmen 60-56 and the Foremost Forettes 56-39 enroute the championship final.  Rebel #11 Torey Lauber racked up an impressive total of 55 points in those two games.  #4 Rene LeCiercq scored 24 points and #7 Kimberly Hrabec scored 15 points total in those two games.

For details of the Rebels victory over the Livingstone Sabres in the championship game scroll down.

Stirling Lakers
The Stirling Lakers defeated the Worsley Wildcats in game three of the tournament by a definitive 98-69 margin, and were defeated by the Sabres by a narrow 60-54 margin in game 12 (more about that later).  Stirling's #20 Tayler Barr scored 53 points in those two games.  Team-mate #15 Kylie Mazutinec scored 25 points. Stirling defeated the Foremost Forettes by a narrow 62-56 margin in game 18 to take the Bronze in the tournament.

2012 ASAA 1A Girls Bronze Medalists the Stirling Lakers
C. Davis photo

Sabres vs Vixens
C. Davis photo

Sabres vs Vixens 
The Sabres' first game in the tournament was against the Viking Vixens on Friday afternoon, March 16.  The Sabres dominated the first quarter, which ended 27-10. The Vixens pulled it together in the second quarter,  for the most part holding back the Sabre attack until late in the quarter when the Sabres blazed back again.  The score stood at 44-18 at the half. The second half of the game was much more even, with the Vixens figuring out how to play the Sabres.  The Sabres edged them in the third 11 points to 9, and the two teams tied the fourth 12-12. Sabres' #13 Emma Lowry scored 18 points in the game, #13 Jennifer Erickson scored 13 points, and #12 Reagan Bousquet scored 10 points.

C. Davis photo

The strong presence of chanting Sabres fans and of "Sabe" the Sabre were additional highlights to the Sabres games in the tournament, and this game set the stage for many entertaining antics to follow.
Final score: Sabres 67, Vixens 39

Livingstone Sabres vs Stirling Lakers
C. Davis photo

Sabres vs Lakers
The Stirling Lakers proved to be a big challenge for the Sabres on their path to the championship game.  A young team with a new coach, the Lakers played with an energy level that had some onlookers seeing double, with their style of play being very similar to that of the Sabres.  The first quarter was a spectacular demonstration of back and forth basketball, with both teams so strong on defence that the score was kept to a minimum.  The quarter ended in an 11-11 draw, bringing fans to the edge of their seats in excitement and anticipation, and keeping them there for the rest of the game.

The second quarter was again very close. The score was 15-15 at the first timeout, and at the half the Sabres were ahead by one point, 25-26.  The Lakers pulled a little bit ahead in the third quarter, and for the most part stayed there, with both teams still neck-and-neck.  The third quarter ended with the Sabres behind 41-46, and it was still anyone's game going into the final quarter.

Livingstone Sabres vs Stirling Lakers
Photo by Melissa

With 7 minutes left in the game the score stood tied at 46-46, after the Sabres clawed their way back.  Neither team took a strong lead until the dying minutes of the game, when the Sabres surged ahead, holding back the Lakers' attack and making the most of scoring opportunities.
Final score: Sabres 60, Lakers 54.

Emma Lowry was again the dominant scorer for the Sabres in this game, with a total of 25 points.  Reagan Bousquet scored 12 points and Jennifer Erickson scored 9 points.  The Sabres' defence deserve as much credit for the win.  Lakers' #20 Tayler Barr was the top scorer for her team with 23 points.

Melissa and Elisha

Note: Thank you to Elisha Lowry and Melissa for helping me out during this game.  Melissa took a lot of photographs, some of which you can see here, and Elisha manned a video camera.

Rene Leclercq (Rebels) and
Emma Lowry (Sabres)
C. Davis photo

Going for Gold: Sabres vs Rebels
For this the ultimate game of the tournament the Sabres were up against an unknown, a team they had never played before.  The Sabres came to the tournament with a regular season record 35 wins and one loss.  The Ryley Rebels had a record of 32 wins and 2 losses.

Basketball fans were in for a treat, as these classy yet relentless competitors squared of against each other.  Every single opportunity was to count. Once again the two teams were incredibly evenly matched, as was so often before demonstrated between all the top notch teams participating in this tournament.

The first quarter saw the two teams match each other points for points, 7-7, 9-9, 11-11, until the declining minutes, when the Rebels pulled ahead to 15-18 at the buzzer.  Inexorably they built on that lead through the second quarter, with the score sitting at 27-35 at the half.  The Halton gym was packed tight with crazed fans.  The third quarter again belong to the Rebels, who put in a maximal effort to surge ahead, ending the quarter up 39-53.

Rebels vs Sabres
C. Davis photo

Sheanna Schambert

And suddenly it all came down to this: Two terrific teams, one quarter, Gold at the end of it.  The first half of the last quarter saw tit-for-tat action.  The Sabres were back and hungry, but every time they scored it seemed the Rebels were grabbing it back right after.  Finally the Sabres pulled out all the stops, putting in a remarkable effort, and slowly clawed their way back into contention.  In the last minutes we saw the board go from 53-61 to 56-61 with 48 seconds left in the game, to an amazing long-shot by Lowry that brought the hometown fans to their feet, 59-61.  Suddenly, it was over.

Final score: Rebels 61, Sabres 59.

The 2012 ASAA 1A Provincial Champions
Ryley Rebels
C. Davis photo

Ryley emerges with the Gold, the 2012 ASAA 1A Girls Provincial champions,  which their team last claimed in 2008.  Sabres get the Silver, and the knowledge that they held their own with the very best, and are to be counted in that number.

Top scorer for the Sabres was again Emma Lowry with 20 points.  Jennifer Erickson was one basket behind her with 18 points.  Rebels #11 Torey Lauber scored 23 points, and #13 Alex Lauber scored 18 points.

The Rebels got to take home the Gold medals, the banner, and souvenir pieces of the Sabre's net.

One of the remarkable things witnessed during this tournament was the universal adherence to good sportsmanship, displayed by every team I saw over the course of three days.

For the perspectives of Rebels Head Coach Brent Anderson and Sabres Head Coach Paul Erickson, and a few more photos form the event,  click here.

2011/12 Livingstone Sr. Girls Sabres:

#4 Kaelynne Verbaas
#5 Raelyn Rutledge
#6 Sheanna Schamber
#7 Caty Paton
#9 Gabi Feller
#10 Ashleen Wiebe
#11 Jennifer Erickson
#12 Reagan Bousquet
#13 Emma Lowry

Coach Paul Erickson
Assistant Coach Jim Proudfoot
Manager Debbie Erickson

Check out our interviews with the Ryley and Livingstone coaches by clicking here.