Senior Girls basketball - Crusaders narrowly vanquish Dragons

Dragons vs Crusaders (Jayden Kennedy with the ball)
T. Lucas photos and vids

Toni Lucas, Pincher Creek Voice

St. Michaels Senior Girls basketball team hosted the Coalhurst Crusaders on January 15 in Pincher Creek for a close game of  basketball that was quite exciting to watch. These two teams were so evenly matched much for much the first two quarters the scoreboard displayed tied scores often, with ties again happening in the fourth quarter. The crowd was on the edge of their seats the whole game. The Crusaders ultimately earned a narrow victory with a final score of 56 - 62.

The Crusaders had the opportunity in the last half of the final quarter to get ahead by sinking foul shots, and they did. Miriam Entz, Alisa Peterson and Madi Cameron each took foul shots. These three Crusaders made 7 points in in fouls the last quarter. Crusader Rhonda Waldner was the high scorer of the game after making 18 points.

Rebecca Lowry takes a shot

The Dragons team showed great team work and good defensive strategy. Rebecca Lowry and and Carlee Fitzpatrick tied for team high scores with 16 points each. Right behind them was Tamara Parkin with 14 points.  Many members of this team works with each other throughout the year in other sports, and it shows in how well they know and trust each other on the basketball court.

"Last week was our actual first week of basketball, so we played 5 games, because of that bad weather in December," said Dragons Head Coach John Lowry.  Lowry has been coaching basketball for 13 years. He coached at St. Michael's for 5 years, and has also coached at Livingstone School.  "We ended up 3 wins, 2 losses. This game today is the best we've played so far. The girls were incredible, and I'm proud of their accomplishment. We are looking at working through, and getting better each time we step on the court. It was bad timing for the fouls. It happened right near the end, so it created an issue for us. Sometimes it's just bad timing."

"The girls go to a tournament in Ryley January 31 and February 1," said Lowry. "We play just about every Monday and Wednesday that school is back in after testing to make up for those missed games. We're busy the next 6 weeks."

*correction, the photo with Jayden Kennedy was originally misidentified, our apologies.