WESTLOCK - For the first time in a generation, St. Mary School’s senior boys basketball team are 1A North Central Zone champs and will now play for a provincial title.
The Sharks posted a perfect 3-0 record at the zone boys tournament hosted by the school at the Rotary Spirit Centre March 11-12, claiming the banner with a 66-44 Saturday-night win over the Breton Cougars. Coach Darcy Romanuik said the gold-medal triumph was the culmination of a weekend that saw the Sharks start slowly in their opening Friday-afternoon 47-29 win over Jasper, then start to hit their stride with a lopsided 70-42 dismantling of the Warburg Panthers.
This is the school’s third zone championship on the boys side since Romanuik took over the program and first since 1996.
“Our front court are shooters and they were hot tonight … it couldn’t have come at a better time. Over the three games we just got better and better and more confident. Once we got over a bit of a mental hump, we just started rolling. Confidence is such a big thing,” said Romanuik, noting they installed a new defence this week and it really paid dividends.
“It’s so gratifying to win this tournament. We worked very hard as a group to get here.”
The provincials will feature 10 teams this coming weekend in Lundbreck, a tiny hamlet about two hours south of Calgary. Although Sharks have only won the zone title three times in the past three-plus decades, they have gone to provincials at least 11 times in that span via wildcard berths.
“I’ll tell the boys to work hard, have fun and to try your best,” said Romanuik. “And to savour the moment. You never know if and when you get to go back to the big dance. I’m really looking forward to this weekend and can’t wait to get there.”
Girls post 1-2 record at zones
Meanwhile the senior girls came up 10 points shy of a zone bronze medal, dropping their final game 39-29 to the Covenant Canadian Reformed School from Neerlandia.
The Sharks opened their zone tournament, which was also hosted at the RSC, Friday afternoon with a hard-fought 32-29 victory over the New Sarepta Saints, a win third-year head coach Kevin Gouchie said left them gassed to face the top-ranked Thorsby Sabres later that night. The Sharks struggled for three quarters before rallying hard with a 16-point fourth quarter — unfortunately it wasn’t enough as the Sabres held on for a 51-38 victory.
“The girls spent so much energy in the first game and there was a lot of emotion. Then we waited an hour-and-a-half before we played again. It was tough for them to find that same level of energy against Thorsby,” said Gouchie.
The club is set to return six players for next season, with a handful of “up and comers'' from the junior high program, although Gouchie says he’ll wait until the first day of school to begin penciling in his roster. He also wished all his graduating players well saying there wasn’t a dry eye on the floor when the final horn sounded.
“I’m super excited for those girls to move on in their lives. There were a lot of tears today … I forgot what it was like as two years ago we didn’t even get to have a final tournament or social gathering after the season was over because of COVID. It was good to see them build relationships throughout the year … that’s the best part of the game,” said Gouchie.
