By Jeff D'Andrea

Crusaders fall to Bears in 5A Hoopla semifinals, still going for a medal

Mar 23, 2018 | 10:33 PM

Coming in as the top-ranked team from Saskatoon in the 5A Girls division, the Aden Bowman Bears can be intimidating for any opponent they will face at the 2018 Hoopla high school basketball provincials this weekend in Prince Albert. But the hosting Carlton Crusaders went right at them, played their game and didn’t shy away. 

But after the dust settled, it was the Crusaders who fell 65-60 to the Bears.

They do still have a chance to medal in the tournament. They will play in the bronze medal game on Saturday at 3 p.m. at St. Mary against the Saskatoon Centennial Chargers.

“I couldn’t be prouder of how hard they played,” Crusaders head coach Jenn Ferguson said. “We couldn’t sink a basket it seemed early, a lot of our shots weren’t going in and that allowed [the Bears] to start believing they could win, I think. We started to turn it on later, but we couldn’t find that extra gear when we needed it.

“They played super hard. That’s a really good team; so are we, and now we have a job to do tomorrow. It’s not what we wanted but we’ll be back here ready to go.”

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Although they would have rather gunned for gold, getting a medal at the Hoopla they hosted would mean a lot, especially to the three graduating players in Mackenzie Emmerson, Payton Izsak and Nyariak Monyrew.

“That would mean so much to leave as a senior, in my last game in a Carlton jersey, to come out on a win would be amazing,” Emmerson said. “I think my team can do it, I have all the confidence in us.”

The Bears will move on to play the Regina LeBoldus Golden Suns in the 5A Girls final at 5 p.m. at Carlton CPAC.

As the final score would suggest, it was a tight, back-and-forth game.

The Bears led 32-31 at the half. For the most part, neither team was four points ahead of the other. The only exception to this was the Bears led 28-20 with 6:30 left in the half, but the Bears climbed back and tied it up at 30-30 with five minutes. The Crusaders were able to force the Bears over the foul limit and get extra trips to the line thanks to some aggressive dribbling and initiating contact at the basket.

“That’s something we like to focus on because we are so quick, and that was something that we did well,” Ferguson said. “We kinda got away from it there in the third quarter a little bit and we tried to get them to go back to it, it took a little while.

“[The Bears] made some great defensive plays too, stole the ball when we were driving and that made us tentative to try it again. They did everything right. I told the girls, we didn’t lose that game, they won.”

The Bears took a meagre 44-43 lead into the fourth quarter, but then went on a 7-0 run to start the frame. The Crusaders were able to claw back, as Grade 10 guard Gage Grassick scored three of her team-high 16 points with 11 seconds left to make it a 63-60 game. Bears’ Haley Poier made both her free throws after getting fouled to seal the game in favour of Aden Bowman.

Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW