Raiders 55 Falcons 47
If there’s one thing for certain it’s that the Lindsay Thurber Raiders junior varsity girls’ basketball team knows how to win.
In fact the Raiders have yet to lose this season, running their winning streak to 19 games with a 55-47 victory over the Foothills Falcons of Okotoks in the final of the annual LTCHS JV tournament Saturday.
“There were times earlier this season when we were down by 23 points at the half and the girls came back to win,” said Raiders head coach Bill Bowd. “They never quit. . . they don’t know what losing is.”
Bowd has 14 players on his roster, 10 of whom played with him in Grade 9 last year.
“That’s a huge difference,” he said. “They know the system we want to run and when we put them out they know what to do against a zone, or man defence and know that working together makes them a better team. Last year we didn’t win a game prior to Christmas, then after the break we put it together and finished third in the league. They just carried that over into this season.”
The fact the Raiders have a deep bench makes a difference, says Bowd.
“We use everyone and everyone knows their job and they do it. Because they work as a team it wears the other teams down and when they tire we take it to them.”
Such was the case in the final. The Falcons stayed right with the Raiders until the final two minutes when the Raiders, led by guard Bretton Bowd, took a 10-point lead.
Bowd, who finished with 25 points and was the player of the game, is the team’s leader.
“She was last year and is looked at this year as well,” said Bill Bowd. “Plus we have four Grade 11s on the team and they came in and have fit in nicely.”
Bowd believes in a positive attitude, which only helps in his team’s development.
“I never say a negative word to them. I tell them what they do well. They know what they do wrong, which makes for a positive group.”
The Raiders don’t have a lot of height, but they do a good job of crashing the boards.
“They all know they have to go to the boards as we’re not that tall, but they’re good rebounders as they go after the ball and usually hold on to it when they get it.”
The Raiders have now won four tournaments this season — Hunting hills, Ardrossan, Olds and their own. They have the Notre Dame tournament and two league games remaining.
“But we don’t look ahead, we just concentrate on the next game,” said Bowd, whose team has faced a number of teams outside of Central Alberta.
“In Olds we played two Calgary teams, Strathmore and George McDougall (of Airdrie) and also beat Picture Butte, so we’ve played some good teams in the province, just not local teams.”
Kennedy Graham had 14 points for the Raiders in the final. The Raiders were playing without two regulars in Aly Anderson, who was playing hockey for the Red Deer Sutter Fund Chiefs major midget hockey team, and Molly Rumohr, who was away playing club volleyball.
Rumohr is one of two players from Sylvan Lake. Octavia Langen is also from Sylvan while Bretton Bowd, Reagan Douglas and Anderson moved in from River Glen.
Anderson and Langen are in Grade 11 along with Graham and Mel Rawlins. Janalyn Tuazon, Sarah Thomas, Tanis Sudlow, McKenzie Tilstra, Shaelyn Moltzhan, Charlotte Just and Reece McGuire are all in Grade 10 and round out the roster.
Aly Bowd is the assistant coach.
The Raiders reached the final by beating Camrose 60-36 and Sturgeon 78-18.
Bowd had 17 points against Camrose while Anderson had 19 and Langen 16 against Sturgeon.
The Falcons defeated Hunting Hills 65-35 and Notre Dame 72-44 in their pool. Hunting hills downed Notre Dame 43-40.
Notre Dame took fifth place with a 50-41 win over Sturgeon while Hunting Hills beat Camrose 42-23 to finish third.
On the boys’ side, Notre Dame downed LTCHS 68-56 in the final with Keno Villaluz hitting 13 points and Jake Dahl 11. Lee Wagar had 14 points and Jarrett Zilinski 13 for the Raiders.
The Cougars reached the final by beating Sturgeon 70-42 and Hunting Hills 53-48. LTCHS downed Notre Dame II 69-33 and George McDougall 74-56. Hunting Hills took third with a 68-47 win over McDougall.
Foothills beat Notre Dame II 52-37 for fifth place.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com