Sabres vs Blades: a win and a loss for Livingstone Sr. Bball teams

Sr. Sabres vs Nobleford - Raelyn Rutledge with the ball
C. Davis photos and videos

Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

The Senior Sabres basketball teams hosted their Nobleford Blades counterparts for an evening of fast-paced basketball at Livingstone School in Lundbreck on the evening of February 4, 2013.

Catching up with the Senior Girls Sabres: success on the road

The Senior Girls Sabres were away on a long road trip over the weekend, playing at a tournament in Ryley, northeast of Edmonton. "We played two games of Friday," said Coach Jim Proudfoot. We played Trochu, and I think we won by about seven points against them." They played New Norway (Camrose area) next. "They had fifteen girls on their team, we had we had five and we beat them 54 to 27 and they're a good team with Honourable Mention in the Provincial rankings. That was our second game."


The next game, we played Foremost, they are ranked number 2 in the province right now. We lost to them by about twenty, I think it was. We played good for one quarter, we were like four points down at the end of the first quarter, and then we just played terrible."

"So then we go the the third place game, that was the semi-final. we played Acme, who are ranked sixth in the Province. We had five girls, they had eleven, and we beat them by four points, 62 - 58."

"The girls... I don't know how you can recover in three hours. We played Foremost, three hours later we had to play Acme, and they just dug in. They shot well, the team average was 30% on that game, against that kind of competition. That's pretty sweet."

"They were just sky-high. They were just nuts when they won that last game. I would have been happy with a ten, twelve point loss. I would have gone, 'Wow, you guys did good, to stay that close.' We have one more league game, at Nanton this week on Wednesday. We have this week off, and then we play Claresholm, then Notre Dame in Calgary, then the league finals. If we make it to the final, we'll probably meet Acme again. Hopefully we'll have more than five."

Senior Girls: Sabres vs Blades

Evenly matched in terms of numbers, the Senior Girls Sabres and Nobleford Blades teams took to the Livingstone court first on Monday evening, February 4. The Blades had a strong beginning, up 4-8 in the first few minutes of play, but the Sabres quickly rose to the challenge, driving the score up in their favor over the course of the first quarter, which ended with the Sabres ahead 33-19. The Sabres' defence was particularly strong. Sabres #6 Sheanna Schamber had her strongest quarter of the game as a shooter with a whopping 12 points to her credit.

The Blades proved to have several of very good long-shooters in Taylor Holtorf, Makayla Hofer, and Ainsley Newton.

The Sabres dominated the second quarter, giving up some penalty shots but maintaining a strong defence and making their shots with regularity. Sabres #5 Raelyn Rutledge shone, scoring 9 points in the quarter. At the half the score was 42-23 in their favor.

The Blades proved themselves to be tough competition, despite the score, playing hard throughout.

In the third quarter the Sabres again dominated the scoring, maintaining a defensive wall and stealing the ball often. Raelyn Rutledge had another great quarter, scoring 10 points.

Going into the final quarter the Sabres were ahead 69-33. The Blades, to their credit, kept playing hard, having their best quarter since the first one. Sabres #13 Kaelynne Verbaas shone, scoring 8 points towards the Sabres' ultimate victory of 80-43.

As notable to me as the score was the sportsmanship the Senior Sabres Girls bring to their games. Whether a play bounces for them or against they seem to take it all in stride, and peals of good natured laughter punctuated many of their plays. Nobleford too seemed to take it well in stride, playing for the love of the game as much as anything else.

Top scorers for the Sabres were Raelyn Rutledge with 23 points, Sheanna Schamber with 16 points, and Reagan Bousquet with 12 points. Rebecca Lowry and Kaelynne Verbaas scored 10 points each.

Top scorers for the Blades were Karen Manyshots with 11 points, Taylor Holtorf with 9 points, and Makayla Hofer with 8 points.

Sr. Boys: Blades rattle Sabres

The Senior Sabres Boys struggled in their game against the Blades. The Blades took an early lead in the first quarter, the Sabres turned it around, and then the Blades took it back. Sabres #2 Aaron Brown made a couple of great long shots, including a three-pointer from centre-court. At the end of the quarter the Blades were ahead 20-15. The Sabres battled back to within two points of the blades early in the second quarter, but the Blades were making the long shots, stealing the ball, making the rebounds, and they mounted a strong defence as well. They were still in the lead with a score of 45-33 at the half.

The Sabres seemed rattled and disconnected in the final half of the game, and it took a toll. The Blades stole the ball and drove it to the net repeatedly. Blades #6 Tyson Pariseau made a great shot from the centre line in the third. Aaron Brown repeated his earlier centre-court shot in the 4th. Sabres #20 Dennis was a real presence out there, digging in deep to make the fast plays, but he was unlucky at the basket. The Blades kept intercepting and making the rebounds. Sabres #4 Nelson made a nice consolation basket after a quick interception right at the final buzzer.

Final score: Blades 87, Sabres 66

Top scorers for the Sabres were Aaron Brown with 27 points, Cord Delinte with 17 points, and Morgan Cook with 14 points.

Top scorers for the Blades were Austin Plomp with 28 points, Tyson Pariseau with 20 points, and Nathan deBoer with 13 points.

According to Coach Brian Delinte, the Sabres Boys attended a Fort MacLeod tournament over the weekend, getting a consolation trophy.

In terms of the game against the Blades he said "The calls kind of went against them for the first while, and then I couldn't get them back into the game, no matter how much pressure I put on them to get mad at me. I need them to get mad at me, not at each other, because of they get mad at each other, they wont pass to each other."

Sabe and Kei-ann Laitinen