The Lindsay Thurber Raiders senior girls basketball team brought their best game of the season to the floor at just the right time.
The Raiders rolled to a dominant 80-32 win over the Notre Dame Cougars Thursday to clinch their second straight Central Alberta Schools Athletic Association zone basketball title.
Lindsay Thurber shot the lights out from three-point range with 10 in the final three quarters and head coach Kathy Lalor said she doesn’t think she’s ever seen one of her teams shoot that well.
“Our goal was to play as a team and we got lots of good looks tonight because we were passing to the open person. It’s the game we needed to lead into provincials,” Lalor said.
“We have lots of confidence from our shooting and we rebounded tonight. We really played like a team. That’s the only way we’ll be competitive at the 4A level.”
Hayley Lalor, in her third year with the Raiders senior girls team, put up 21 points in the victory and said all around it was a great team effort.
“It was really awesome to get on a roll like that, heading into provincials it’s a confidence booster, it was fun,” Hayley said.
“We work really well together. There are no issues. We really support each other and help each other out.”
Emma Holmes had 15 points in the win for the Raiders and Jade Weber chipped in nine points, all three-pointers.
Ireland Black led the Cougars with 12 points.
Led by seven seniors, Lindsay Thurber were dominant in the zone this year with only one loss. They’ll look to make some noise at 4A provincials in Medicine Hat next weekend.
“Last year we went in and we were ranked 14th and we just about upset the team that got silver. We know we can play with them, we just have to play our best game,” Lalor added.
“I’m happy because we have a lot of seniors. Not only are these kids basketball players, they play everything and they’ve contributed to Thurber athletics in a big way for the last four years.”
The Lacombe Rams knocked off the Lindsay Thurber Raiders 74-67 in the CASAA senior boys zone final and forced a deciding game 3 on Friday night.
Carter McLenahan had 24 points in the contest for the Rams.
Lindsay Thurber took game 1, 73-70 on their home court Tuesday.
The Rams will host the Raiders Friday with tipoff set for 6 p.m. and the winner will represent the Central Zone at the 4A provincials next weekend.
Email sports tips to Byron Hackett
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
