Sign up for the paNOW newsletter

Crusaders ride the sea of red fans to Hoopla victory

Mar 22, 2018 | 10:32 PM

The Carlton Crusaders didn’t disappoint the red, rowdy and rambunctious CPAC crowd on Thursday night. The Crusaders tipped off their 2018 Hoopla journey with a 76-55 win over the Riffel Royals from Regina in the 5A Girls division.

Thursday’s game has been long in the minds of the Crusaders girls. After all the interviews, the Wednesday press conference, and all the hype around the school and city for the tournament, the players couldn’t wait to take to the court.

“I think we were just so ready and so excited to play for our fans,” Crusaders Grade 10 guard Gage Grassick said. “It’s crazy to see the amount of support we got. It was so awesome, the atmosphere was crazy. We were so ready to play.”

Of all the players on the court, the crowd seemed to be the most excited about Grassick’s game. Every time she touched the ball in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, chants of “MVP, MVP” rained down.

“I don’t know…” Grassick said about the early award nomination from the Crusaders’ crowd. “It all depends on my team, my team helps me play that way. They’re the real MVP’s, not me.”

As much motivation as loud crowds can give, emotions can run a little wild as well. But fortunately for the Crusaders, the only one that maybe got a little carried away was their head coach Jenn Ferguson.

“I have a lot of adrenaline running through my body right now. Of course, I’m proud of the kids. There were times I thought I lost my composure a bit, so I was really proud of them for being able to stay engaged and stay in the moment and not follow my lead this time and actually stay composed,” Ferguson said moments after the game. “I couldn’t be prouder and I’m so excited for tomorrow.”

The Crusaders’ next game will be in the 5A Girls semifinals against the Aden Bowman Bears, the top Saskatoon seeds who beat Regina O’Neill Titans 60-48. That will be at 6 p.m. at St. Mary.

Statistics wise, the Crusaders scored by committee. Grassick scored 11 points, as did Grade 12’s Payton Izsak and Mackenzie Emmerson. Alex Soyko had 10 points.

Just like how everybody pitched in the point-scoring department, the Crusaders did the same rebounding. Regardless of what end a missed shot was on, the Crusaders crashed the glass and repeatedly took ownership of the loose balls. According to Ferguson, the Crusaders have improved in that regard this year.

“That was definitely a weakness of ours early in the season, when we lost a couple two-point games early, I think a lot could have been attributed to a lack of rebounding ability,” Ferguson said. “So we focussed on that all year, just having a nose for the ball and knowing where it’s going to go… We knew from watching film on Riffel that if we could control the boards, we’d have a pretty good shot at winning too.”

The Crusaders knew they had to key in on the Royals’ Kennedy Hollinger, their star scorer. Hollinger was held to just a single point heading into the half, before scoring 16 of her 17 points in the final 20 minutes.

 

Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW