Skip to content

Cougars stun Raiders in Game 1 of boys basketball final

Hunting Hills lightning girls knock off Lindsay Thurber Raiders in Game 1
20882415_web1_200310-RDA-Notre-Dame-Cougarsball
Notre Dame Cougars guard Brayden Hessler hits a floater in the lane during a dominant victory over the Lindsay Thurber Raiders in Game 1 of the best-of-three Central Alberta Schools Athletic Association 4A Zone Basketball Final. (Photo by BYRON HACKETT/Advocate Staff)

Cougars 89 Raiders 67 (Cougars lead best-of-three final 1-0)

Lightning 61 Raiders 47 (Lightning lead best-of-three final 1-0)

The Notre Dame Cougars were firing on all cylinders.

It seemed like they couldn’t miss– boosted perhaps by the energy of a packed gym on home court, the Cougars were lights out from the outset.

With that, they landed the first blow in the Central Alberta Schools Athletic Association best-of-three 4A Zone Final against the Lindsay Thurber Raiders, running away with an 89-67 victory.

Notre Dame Cougars coach Dale Henderson said after winning the semis as the underdog last week and going up against the top-ranked Raiders Tuesday, it was going to be a tall task.

After Tuesday’s win, he was proud of the way his team competed and rose to the challenge.

“We’ve been peaking lately. We played a good team game, a smart game. We didn’t turn the ball over a lot and that makes all the difference in the world. And we made some outside shots for a change. We haven’t been doing that lately, that makes all the difference when you’re making a few outside ones and a few lucky ones,” Henderson said.

“We had a game plan and we stuck with it, I’m really proud of the way we played.”

On the other side, Raiders coach Joel Carroll gave kudos to the Cougars, who outworked his side and used the crowd’s energy in the victory.

“We got outcompeted. They used the home-court advantage really well. They shot really well from the three-point line and when we threw other things at them, they were quickly able to figure it out,” he said.

Notre Dame only led 19-18 after the first quarter but pulled away for a 42-29 advantage by halftime. In the third quarter, they held a 68-48 lead and didn’t stop scoring down the stretch.

The Cougars hit 12 threes as a team in the victory. Mason Empey chipped in 18 points, while Jess Money added 12 for the Cougars. Basit Karimy had 13 points for Lindsay Thurber while Komalle Abdel Salam chipped in 12.

Brayden Hessler, who started the game without a field goal in the first quarter for Notre Dame, got red hot as the game went on and finished with 20 points, including five three-pointers.

“He got hot. He was pretty darn cold to start with and I wasn’t very happy. Then he got really hot, that made the difference in the game,” Henderson said.

Game 2 of the best of three series goes Thursday at Lindsay Thurber, with the boys and girls playing a doubleheader.

“We have to have a short term memory. We got punched in the mouth and it is what it is… let’s regroup and a get a good practice in,” Caroll said.

The Lindsay Thurber Raiders girls also fell behind in their series, losing Game 1 of the 4A CASAA Zone Final 61-47 to the Hunting Hills Lightning.

Taylor Blais had a monster night for the Lightning with 25 points, Taliya Stepan had 11 and Marissa Richards chipped in nine. Hannah Wirtanen led the Raiders with 11 points.

They tip off the doubleheader at 6 p.m. Thursday at Lindsay Thurber, with the boys game to follow.



Email sports tips to Byron Hackett

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter

20882415_web1_20310-RDA-HuntingHills-Girls-basketball
20882415_web1_200310-RDA-HS-basketball-Raiders-Cougars
20882415_web1_200310-RDA-Thuber-bball-Cougars


Byron Hackett

About the Author: Byron Hackett

Byron has been the sports reporter at the advocate since December of 2016. He likes to spend his time in cold hockey arenas accompanied by luke warm, watered down coffee.
Read more