Hoops of fun at Dragons pre-season tournament

St. Michael's Dragons Girls
T. Lucas photo

Chris Davis, Toni Lucas, and Josh Davis
Pincher Creek Voice

St. Michael's Dragons hosted a pre-season basketball tournament at St. Michael's and Matthew Halton schools on Friday, November 11 and Saturday, December 12.  8 girls and 6 boys teams participated, making for a couple of days of non-stop action at both gymnasiums.

The Boys draw was divided into two pools, and included the St. Michael's Dragons, Vulcan's County Central Hawks, the Coalhurst Trojans, the Matthew Halton Hawks, the Livingstone Sabres, and the Chinook Coyotes JV.  The Girls draw included two St. Michael's Dragons teams (JV and SV), the Halton Hawks, the Crowsnest Pass Pandas, the Coalhurst Crusaders, the Frank Maddock Amazons, the County Central Hawks from Vulcan, Drayton Valley, and the Webber Academy Wildcats.

St. Michael's Athletic Director Tyler Speelman deserves a huge round of applause for co-ordinating such a complex event so successfully, as do the numerous volunteers, score keepers, coaches, referees and others that worked so hard to make it happen.

Here's a summary of most of the games, followed by video:

Sabres vs Coyotes
C. Davis photo

Boys: Chinook Coyotes JV vs Livingstone Sabres
Livingstone 82 - Coyotes JV 46
The Livingstone Sabres dominated this tournament right form the beginning, with this win over the Coyotes JV team.  To give the Coyotes credit, they put up a good fight against an older and much stronger team.

Dragons JV vs Hawks
C. Davis photo

Girls: Halton Hawks vs St. Michael's Dragons JV
Hawks 64 - Dragons 29
The JV Dragons Girls held their own rather well considering they were up against an SV team.  Dakota Latourneau got the first basket for the Dragons JV, a nice way to start for her.  She's playing her first season with the team.  The Hawks made some great passes in this game.

Hawks vs Dragons JV
C. Davis photo

Boys: St. Michael's Dragons vs Coalhurst Trojans
Trojans 74 - Dragons 71
These two teams were quite evenly matched.  The Dragons had a small lead for much of the first 3 quarters.  The Trojans caught up in the third and kept on going to victory.

Girls: Crowsnest Pandas vs County Central Hawks
Pandas 49 - CCHS Hawks 20

Dragons SV vs Coalhurst Crusaders
C. Davis photo

Girls: St. Michael's Dragons vs Coalhurst Crusaders
Dragons 64 - Crusaders 41
The Dragons showed off their new outfits and their old winning ways in this game.

Hawks vs Coyotes
C. Davis photo

Boys: Chinook Coyotes JV vs Halton Hawks
Coyotes JV 57 - Hawks 39
These two teams seemed to be evenly matched in the first quarter, but the Coyotes started to pull ahead near the end of it, and built on that lead with every quarter that followed.  One of their keys to success was their long passes followed by some solid shooting.

Hawks vs Coyotes
C. Davis photo

Boys: Coalhurst Trojans vs County Central Hawks
Trojans 81 - CC Hawks 19

Hawks vs Sabres
C. Davis photo

Boys: Livingstone Sabres vs Halton Hawks
Hawks 102 - Sabres 24.  That's not a typo.  The Hawks have the ingredients for a better team, but they have their work cut out for them to get there.  The Sabres are ferocious competitors, making the utmost of every opportunity.  On the Hawks side, kudos to Milligan for reminding the team that they are all in it together.  That's the attitude that can turn it around for them.

Sabres vs Hawks
C. Davis photo

Dragons vs Amazons
C. Davis photo

Girls: St. Michael's Dragons vs Frank Maddock Amazons
Amazons 43 - Dragons 26

Dragons vs Amazons
C. Davis photo

Girls: Halton Hawks vs Webber Wildcats
Hawks 60 - Wildcats 52

Dragons vs Pandas
C. Davis photo

Girls: St. Michael's Dragons vs CNP Pandas
Dragons 79 - Pandas 24
The Dragons SV Girls are a testament to the power of teamwork.  Everybody on this team is a star in their own way, and the years most of them have played together seems to have made them telepathic.

Dragons vs Pandas
C. Davis photo

Girls: Vulcan County Central Hawks vs St. Michael's Dragons JV
Dragons JV 35 - CC Hawks 31
These two teams were very evenly matched, staying within a point or two of each other for most of this thriller of a game, with the Dragons JV having a slight edge.  Nearing the end of the final quarter the score was tied 31-31.  The Dragons JV won it in the last 46 seconds.  Dragons Coach Sally Woodard was pleased with the way the team performed. "Such a lovely part of the tournament was that the grade tens got to play so much," she said.  "They were just exhausted.  Two players probably played ninety nine percent of the game, so they didn't get much rest, but they kept playing till the end.  It was really exciting.  This is our JV team, beating their Senior team, and we play them in our league.  When we play Vulcan in a week and a half, we will have our full team playing then. Today we only had the ten and eleven's playing.  Some of them are starting for the Senior team.  It speaks well for our year that we've got so much strength already."

FINALS
Josh Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

Girls Consolation: St. Michael's Dragons JV vs Drayton Valley Amazons
Amazons 43 - Dragons JV 26
Once again the Dragons JV girls were playing against an older team, and once again managed to put on a credible performance.  By the third quarter their defensive strategies were definitely improving, but the fact is they were on the defensive most of the time, with a nice rally in the fourth quarter when they became the dominant team for a while.  Prediction: Dragons JV Girls is going to be one of the great teams this season.

Webber Wildcats
J. Davis photo

Girls game for Third Place: Webber Wildcats vs CNP Pandas
Wildcats 57 - Pandas 35
The Pandas finished the first quarter ahead 9-12, due to their beautiful passing and more aggressive playing. The Wildcats' real strength was their teamwork, making use of strategy to set up shots on the net.

The Wildcats turned things around in the second, earning themselves a five point lead. The game remained very close at this point, with both teams getting more aggressive on the court.  Both teams are to be congratulated for their sportmanship, with members of both teams helping members of their opposition up when they fell, in contrast to the increasing intensity of the game. The quarter ended with the Wildcats ahead 23-18.

The third quarter was hotly contested by both teams, with the Pandas pulling temporarily into a one point lead, before the Wildcats pulled ahead again. The game thus far had been hotly contested, and close, very back and forth.  The quarter ended with the Wildcats still ahead by a slim margin of 33-30.

In the final quarter the Wildcats secured their lead. The Pandas did not earn a single point this quarter until less than a minute was left on the clock.

Final score 57-35 for the Wildcats, to take third place overall.

St. Michael's Dragons
J. Davis photo

Boys game for Third Place: Saint Michael's Dragons vs Chinook Coyotes JV
Dragons 78 - Coyotes 41
The Dragons had the obvious advantage in this game from the start, particularly since the Coyotes are a JV team.  Both teams had good dribbling, and good passing, and demonstrated solid teamwork. The Dragons’ real advantage was their ability to make baskets. The Coyotes made significantly fewer baskets per shots at the net, and it showed on the board.  They were playing the court just fine but they just weren't making the baskets. 25-9 for the Dragons at the end of the first quarter.

Dragons vs Coyotes
J. Davis photo

The Coyotes made a valiant effort to catch up in the second quarter, but those missed shots really started to add up. Dragons #10 Gabe Rainford was an incredible shooter for the Dragons, racking up a lot of their points in the first two quarters.  The Dragons ended the quarter ahead 46-22.

If the Coyotes had played as hard ever quarter as they did in the third it could have been a very different game. The Coyotes worked very hard to keep the game on the Dragons' side of the court, and were as aggressive as they got all game.  However, the Dragons’ lead was large, and they came out of this quarter looking calm, cool, and still with a substantial lead of 59-36.

Whatever energy the Coyotes had mustered in the third, it was gone in the last quarter. The Dragons won the game and third place with a score of 78-41.

Dragons vs Coyotes
J. Davis photo

Senior Dragons Boys Coach Rainford talked about the team earlier on in the tournament after their opening game against Coalhurst on Friday, which the Dragons lost by only 3 points.  "It's their first game this year," he explained.  "We've got a lot of new players, guys that haven't played for a couple years, that are just getting back into it, and I have some players that have never played.  I think they did really well. Their condition, you can see it isn't there yet, they were getting tired. When you get tired, you lose your legs, when you lose your legs, you commit fouls.  Coalhurst and us have had a good rivalry for the couple years, so it was a good game.  I told the guys that they had nothing to be ashamed of, they played well.  As a fan, it was probably pretty exciting to watch.  You got your moneys worth.
I'm grade 12 heavy this year.  It affects the team development for the next years.  Two of the grade twelves  the last time they played was in grade nine.  and one has never played.  So, it's hard for them to integrate  so soon, but it will come.  We only have two grade tens, and one grade eleven today."

Coming up for the Senior Boys Dragons, according to Coach Rainford: "They play in the Pass on Monday, that's when the League officially starts.  We play here on Thursday against Brocket, just the boys. Next weekend, we go to Coalhurst Tournament  and the weekend following that, we go to Coaldale's Tournement.  Kate Andrews will be a really good tournament."

Dragons vs Hawks
J. Davis photo

Girls Final for first place: St. Michael's Dragons vs Halton Hawks
Dragons 70 -  Hawks 34
The Dragons were highly aggressive in the first, stealing the ball right out of their opponents hands. The Hawks demonstrated good teamwork, but were obviously outmatched.  The Dragons doubled up on the Hawks 22-11 at the end of the first quarter.  At the end of the second it was 42-22. At the end of the third it was 62-28.   The last quarter was much quieter than the previous ones, with both teams playing tired.  The Dragons won by a score of 70-34 to take first place.  Dragons' Catherine Decock earned MVP for her efforts.

Dragons vs Hawks
J. Davis photo

2012/13 SV Dragons
J. Davis photo

Livingstone Sabres
J. Davis photo

Boys Final for First Place: Livingstone Sabres vs Coalhurst Trojans
Sabre 55 - Trojans 48

Sabres vs Trojans
J. Davis photo

The Boys Final game started out with a very close first quarter, with back and forth high energy play. The Sabres were already looking like a just slightly stronger team due to their excellent passing and use of strategy, but the Trojans made up for it with their free-throw ability.  The Sabres came out ahead 18-4.

The Sabres proceeded to secure their lead with several 3 point shots early in the second quarter. Later on they proved their own free throw skills, earning a total of five more points and finishing the quarter ahead 31-18.  The Trojans started off the third right, making a serious effort to catch up with their own 3 point tosses. However, their defense came up short, and by the end they remained behind on the scoreboard.  42-34 for the Dragons.

Sabres vs Trojans
J. Davis photo

The Trojans got their game back in the final quarter, showing that they had reserved some energy for the end-game. They closed the scoring gap to within four points within five minutes. By four minutes left on the clock, they were behind by only a single point. However, despite the Trojans earning a short lived one point lead, the Sabres managed to bounce back, winning the game by 7 points. It was an incredibly close quarter.  The Sabres won by a score of 55-48, securing first place.


 Basketball pre-season Tournament results synopsis:

Boys

1st place – Livingstone Sabres
2nd place – Coalhurst Trojans
3rd place – Saint Michaels Dragons
4th place – Chinook Coyotes

Girls

1st place – Saint Michaels Dragons
2nd place – Matthew Halton Hawks
3rd place – Webber Wildcats
4th place – Crowsnest Consolidated Pandas